The Hades Chronicles II: Asphodel
by Basilisk9466
Summary: Part two of the Hades Chronicles. The crew and 'hijackers' of the Charon have been integrated into the Asphodel, but can the crew of the Asphodel to be trusted? Now complete. Look out for the conclusion to the Hades Chronicles...
1. Chapter 1

_Here we go: part two of the Hades chronicles. If you haven't read the first one (Hades) I do recommend you do so – very little here will make sense without it._

_Oh, by the way: if some of the Pred characters' names don't ring true, I've been changing them to fit in with traditional Pred lore (or possibly just the way that Veriea Fornnan does it, which is a good system anyway)_

The universe is filled with darkness.

Throughout it, there are trillions of little specks of light, each one thousands of kilometres across, yet they are little more than sparks in the grand scheme of things.

In most of the universe, you can see those little specks of light in the night sky.

But not here.

Shadow sighed. The great Kavash Nebula blocked out everything but its ethereal beauty, great swathes of colour created by the dispersed light from other stars within its expanse.

>Do you remember the night sky? Back on Earth?>

Spiketail turned to look at him in amusement. >You're having one of your 'human' moments again, aren't you. What do the stars matter to us? All that matters is the Hive, and the prey.>

The bushes rustled, and they both tensed, before relaxing upon seeing a Snatcher, a small feline creature with extendable jaws, move onto the plain that made up the resting place of the **_Asphodel_**.

>Ironic. Before we came here, nothing would have caused us to tense. Now we do it at every sound. So much for the ultimate life-form,> commented Shadow.

Abruptly they felt a mental tugging, and swore quietly.

>Spineback,> hissed Spiketail.

They moved to the small, black dome-structure that was the new home of the Hive, a few hundred metres from the **_Asphodel_**. At the entrance, a pair of drones stood guard, and as they arrived, all four moved into the inner sanctum.

Spineback stood in the centre, the traditional place for a Queen. It was a blatant declaration of her authority, as she was still a Praetorian. None were questioning the position, though. The Hive had been without a Queen for two weeks. Too long, as Spineback herself had put it, under the command of a couple of half-breed drones.

¬I see that you've arrived,¬ snarled the Praetorian. ¬So glad you could come. You're just in time to see my ascendance. The Hive has decided that someone must Transform, and I have been chosen.¬

_>Don't _you_ mean that _you_ chose, Praetorian?> _responded Spiketail. >_The Queen entrusted the Hive to our care. I would think that that gives us some authority over who replaces her.>_

¬Silly little drone. Do you really think that the Hive would accept any other? I am first among the Guard. We need strength here! We lose some every day to the accursed local creatures, and we merely feed off the bodies of those we overpower. A strong Queen is needed to create strong offspring, in order for the Hive to survive! Do you deny my strength?¬

Spiketail hissed threateningly at the larger Alien, but said nothing. The rest of the Hive had no objections to Spineback's Transformation. Two drones could not go against the entire Hive.

¬Good.¬ Spineback turned away from Spiketail, and began to curl into a long spiral. Soft, fleshy skin generated itself from the Praetorian, forming a cocoon until there was nothing but a tall spherical column in the centre of the room.

Shadow and Spiketail left without a word. The moment they were away from the rest of the drones, Spiketail let out a screech of fury.

_>We agreed! That bitch must never Transform, we said! Now… now we're all at risk! We'll probably get cast out for not fitting in with the Hive, and the **Charon** and **Asphodel** will get turned into a convenient food source! >_

_>Give them _some_ credit, Spike. Humans aren't exactly defenceless. If we warn them to be on their guard, that might do some good. >_

_>I should have challenged her! Claimed the Transformation for myself! I had the right, the Queen _gave_ me that right! >_

_>She would have ripped you apart. Praetorians aren't just big for show. All you'd have had would have been speed, and you can't take a Royal Guard down with quick slash attacks. This way, we're both alive, and can do some good to cope with Spineback's attitude. >_

"It's hard to tell an Alien's expression, but I'm guessing you two are a bit glum at the moment." They looked up to see Holly Chance sitting on a fallen tree-trunk just ahead.

>I'm glum, she's furious,> explained Shadow.

"Nice to meet you, glum," said Holly dryly. "I'm guessing it's something to do with the Hive. You've been edgy about it ever since the old Queen died."

>We've got a new one. A… problematic one.>

"Let me guess… this new Queen doesn't like associating with humans?"

>Spineback hasn't said so in so many words, but she does go on a bit when it comes to power and strength. If it's any consolation, you'll probably just get eaten. Not strong enough to provide good offspring.>

"I feel so much happier now. Come on, let's see what Vathris has to say about this."

Shadow hesitated. >I don't like Vathris. There's something wrong about him. There's something wrong with all of the **_Asphodel_**, come to think of it. It's too pristine.>

"I'm not complaining. I know what you mean – we haven't been attacked by any big bad beasties since we arrived. Considering the rate we got them at back at the **_Charon_**, it is weird." Holly got up and stretched. Somewhere in the forest, a roar indicated that a _levascara_ was on the prowl.

Holly turned to walk back towards the ship, but Shadow stopped. There was another sound, too soft for the human ear to catch.

A scream. A _human_ scream. From the forest.

* * *

The _levascara_ roared again with the vicious joy of a predator that knows that its prey cannot escape. Just ahead, only escaping the fleet-footed monster due to the closeness of the trees, were its prey: two adolescent humans, a boy and a girl. 

The creature paused and sprayed a jet of paralysing venom from the nozzle on its head, but the toxins missed. It leapt back into the pursuit.

"Run! Don't look back!" yelled the boy.

"You… sure that… this is the way back to **_Asphodel_**?" panted the girl.

"If not, we're dead!"

They veered into a ravine, hoping that the _levascara_ would be stopped by the narrow gully, but it wasn't even slowed.

And then they ran into the dead-end. The ravine ended with a sheer, solid rock wall.

The creature came round the corner, hissed in triumph, and sprayed them again. The boy took the jet straight to the head and gave a groan before collapsing as the toxins did their work. The other dodged the jet.

She gave one final scream, and then a black missile slammed into the predator.

The _levascara _screeched in pain and surprise, and recovered its balance. Shadow clung onto the thing's back, and with a ripping motion, punctured the creature's toxin nozzle. As it reared, he reached down and tore its throat open.

The girl slowly got to her feet and looked at her saviour. "That was… pretty good," she said, shakily.

>I've had a lot of practice,> Shadow commented dryly. >You're from the **_Asphodel_**?>

"Yes," she said. "You must be one of those bugs that came with all those people from the **_Charon_**."

>Charming description, but yes,> he replied. >You almost made it back to the ship. Follow me; I'll carry the other one. What's your name?>

"Elysa Varbolt. That's my brother, Tyrion."

>Call me Shadow.>

>Quite the hero, aren't we?> commented Spiketail, as she dropped from the trees next to them. >Though I must say that you took down that croc-thing quickly.>

>Like I said, I've had practice. This is Spiketail. She's proven to be psychotic, but is all right if you don't mind the sadistic attitude.>

Elysa grinned, not sure whether or not to take him seriously.

* * *

"How many times, Othar'a cha? Blocking like that may be effective against another Yautja with a _ki its-pa_, but will spell doom against something with more than one weapon! Against a _kainde amedha_, you would already be dead. Understood?" 

Othar'a sighed in irritation, but bowed her head. The Elder was correct, but it still stung considering that she regularly floored her Yautja with that move.

The Elder sighed also. She was easily the best of the youngbloods under his guard, but she was headstrong and arrogant. Not good qualities on this planet. She would become a Warrior, no doubt about it – the restrictions of the Clan were not for her.

She needed to be taken down a peg or two.

"I can see your thoughts, youngblood. You can always win in the _kehrite_ – you have come close to defeating me there on occasion. But you need to learn the ways of the Hunt. I'm giving you the challenge of _zazin tjau'ke chiva_."

It was like a physical blow to her. _Zazin tjau'ke chiva _was a practice unique to the _Thwei Tjau'ke _Clan, who guided all the Hunts and training on this world. Not many survived it – the Yautja taking part had to go into the wilds, alone and without help, for three rotations armed with only a _ki its-pa_ (or combistick, as it was known to oomans) and _ki'cti-pa_ (wristblades) When it took place on this world, they were allowed _awu'asa_ (armour) and the shiftsuits.

This would not normally be a problem for a Yautja – except on this world. She had seen enough of the inhabitants to know that the Elder was not happy with her.

"Elder…" She stopped, unsure how to continue.

"Viewing your inexperience, your brother Kal'Arak'e cha will accompany you. He also needs to learn the ways of the Hunt."

Kal'Arak'e froze, but said nothing.

The two Predators stood, gathered their equipment, and left.

The ship faded into nothingness behind them as the doors closed and the cloak reactivated.

The moment it was gone, Othar'a exploded. "How _dare_ he! _Zazin tjau'ke chiva_ is taken by full Blooded, not by youngbloods only just leaving the _kainde amedha chiva_! And it is taken by choice, not forced! He is not even of our Clan!"

"Remember why we came here, sister," said Kal'Arak'e soothingly. "The _Thwei Tjau'ke_ own the most dangerous hunting grounds in known space; coming here to train with them ensures that we have learned our skills well. If the Elder believes that we must face _zazin tjau'ke chiva_, then surely he thinks that we can survive it. His Clan would not be portrayed in a good light if we were to die taking a test that even few Elders have taken! Imagine the honour when we emerge from the trial alive."

"Truth," she grunted.

Something crashed up ahead, and both froze. "Shiftsuits," she said tersely, and both vanished from sight.

The cause of the crash was soon revealed. Two _kainde_ _amedha_ stood over a young ooman, one of the drones them carrying another.

Othar'a hissed in fury. "To take a defenceless child like that… come on, let's destroy the _s'yuit-de_."

"Wait."

The ooman gabbled something, and reached out a hand. To the watcher's amazement, instead of attacking, one of the drones took the hand and pulled the ooman upright again from where it had fallen.

"This seems familiar. Look at the size of the drones. We must have come across that mysterious combination of _pyode _and _kainde amedha_ again."

They followed the four in silence, eventually coming to a clearing.

In the centre lay a huge ooman spacecraft, damaged but in fairly good condition.

They stared in recognition. "What are they doing _here_? The Elder was firm that we should be avoid contact with anything that makes its home on that ship!" said Kal'Arak'e in puzzlement.

"Something to do with the _l'ulij-bpe paya_, he said," agreed Othar'a. "This should be very interesting to investigate…"

* * *

Shadow hissed in relief as Tyrion stirred. Obviously the croc's venom was fairly short-lasting.

Something caught the edge of his vision in an oddly reminiscent way.

That was it. Just before they had ventured away from the **_Charon_** for the first time.

Now he was convinced. Something was watching.

>Spiketail will take you back to the **_Asphodel_**,> he said. >I have something to do, and I doubt that anything lethal enough to take on all three of you will turn up between here and the ship.>

Elysa nodded. "Thanks again for saving us."

>No problem.>

_>So what's this thing you have to do?> _asked Spiketail. >_I don't remember anything. I take it you said that for their benefit. >_

_>Yes. I'm sure that we're being followed by something. I'm going to try to catch them at it. >_

_>Good luck. If it turns out to be something you can kill, let me know. >_

Shadow chuckled mentally, and then leapt into the trees.

* * *

The Predators watched as he vanished from their sight, but didn't bother to check where he went. Invisibility can become a habit.

"Do we go onto the plain?" asked Kal'Arak'e.

"No. Too dangerous. We'll stay around here, though – far fewer predatory species around then in most of the other areas we've been to."

"Fair enough."

A small light inside their helmets switched on, alerting to low power due to the extended shiftsuit use.

"Is there anything around to see us?" asked Othar'a.

"No. We should switch them off and start building a camp to work from."

* * *

Shadow would have blinked in surprise if he had had eyelids. The two little disturbances in his vision that he had isolated resolved themselves into tall bipedal creatures in heavy armour.

They moved around, gathering wood and creating a makeshift, but well hidden shelter.

Spiketail appeared at his side. >_What do we have here, then? These your two trackers? >_

_>Yes.> _

Spiketail made ready to pounce, but Shadow stopped her. >_We should watch them first. See what they do. For all we know, they could be helpful… >_

_First chapter of Asphodel complete, then. Hopefully all of my new Pred vocabulary wasn't too confusing. If it is, I'll put up an index in the next chapter. I also slipped in a clue about the _true_ nature of Hades… see if you can work it out. You'll have to wait until quite late in Asphodel (or maybe even part three) to find out for sure, though…_

_Until next time…_


	2. Chapter 2

_Ah…_

_So nice to have people who actually _like_ my work for a change. Have a look at the reviews for Empires Collide to see what I have to go through with it…_

_Yes, the Yautja twins are the same as the ones from Hades. I changed the names slightly, as I said, to fit in with Veriea's system. I feel kind of silly now, knowing that it isn't 'official' lore, but it makes it all nice and ordered, I suppose._

_On with the story._

Shadow sighed.

Staying here was probably a waste of time. The damn things were _asleep_. As should he – he was reaching the point where he needed to enter a dormant state again.

Aliens don't sleep as such. Their metabolism is so efficient that they can potentially keep going forever. However, they do benefit from entering a state of dormancy every now and again. This speeds up recuperation, increases their already impressive regenerative abilities, and allows for most of the fantastic adaptive bio-chemistry of their bodies to make any suitable adjustments to the local environment.

And abruptly, it was light.

The planet's orbit, combined with the nebula, played strange tricks with sunrise and sunset. Their was no such thing as twilight on Hades – just pitch-black night and bright day.

The creatures inside the shelter stirred, and Shadow caught a faint clicking noise. There was a pause, and then they came out.

They were impressive physically. Easily seven, maybe even eight foot tall, if you ignored his tail they were only slightly smaller than him. They would tower over a human.

They wore some kind of body armour that seemed to be a mixture of leather and metal, with sections of…

He stared. There was no doubt about it – that was Alien skin. Only covering certain vital areas, but it was there.

_>It would seem that they've encountered our kind before,> _ commented Spiketail. >_Can we kill them _now?>

Shadow never had a chance to even think of an answer, as the larger one looked up.

* * *

Othar'a peered at the curious black shape in the tree, and then realised what it was. "_Pauk_! Brother, two _kainde amedha_ in the tree!" 

Kal'Arak'e never had a chance to respond, as they pounced.

There was no time to even think about the _ki its-pa_ – only just time to extend the wristblades.

The first xenomorph hissed viciously at her, but Othar'a held her ground and feinted with the blades. Almost casually, the drone retaliated with a flick of the tail and smashed into her chest armour. Thanking the gods for the _awu'asa_, Othar'a retreated, whirling the blades to try and fend the creature off.

The second drone attacked Kal'Arak'e. This one seemed to be more cautious than its companion, and avoided his whirling defence with ease without making any serious attack. Getting more confident, he lunged with both wristblades, hoping to catch the creature by surprise.

It stumbled, and then leapt onto a tree trunk. He was just about to press home the advantage when a shriek split the air.

Othar'a was in trouble. Her opponent had been using a very fixed style of attack, and she had tried to exploit it at the same moment that it changed. With a vicious swipe from its claws, it laid her arm open. Blood sprayed, and the creature hissed in triumph.

Kal'Arak'e leapt at it, knocking it off balance, and it screeched in fury. Drawing back the wristblades for a killing blow, he was caught by his own manoeuvre by the other Alien.

The second drone's jaws snapped open, the inner pair about to shoot out… then it stopped.

"You probably don't understand me, _kainde amedha_, but if you kill him you lose your hive-mate." Ignoring her wounded arm, Othar'a stood next to the first drone with the combi-stick ready to extend right through its head.

_

* * *

>Any ideas would be appreciated, Spiketail.> _ said Shadow desperately.

_>Why me? _You're_ the one with one of the things at your mercy.> _

_>You got us into this mess. Think!> _

_>All right, all right! Close your jaws. You can still kill it, but it looks less threatening.>_

Shadow did so, but made no other move. The other creature said something, but it was meaningless clicking to him.

The one that he was on top of replied, and the first, with great reluctance, withdrew the weapon.

Shadow leapt backwards, knocking the creature away from Spiketail. It screeched, but withdrew.

* * *

"That got us out of that situation. What now?" asked Othar'a. "Attack?" 

"No. Let's just… go. We weren't looking for a fight, and even with _ki its-pa_, I don't fancy our chances."

They moved away from the clearing, and were relieved to note that the Aliens didn't follow.

"What the holy _pauk_ were those things?" said Othar'a. "We've both fought _kainde amedha_ before, and they don't act anything like those… demons!"

Kal'Arak'e shook his head, still in shock from the speed and viciousness of the fight. "Not only bigger and stronger, but faster and a lot more cunning. Not to mention intelligent – no normal drone would have reacted to that threat. I don't know, sister. This area may be safer from the normal threats, but with those things around…"

_

* * *

>I wouldn't want to fight one of those again,> _ hissed Spiketail. _> Fast, strong, and with a large array of tricks. I haven't yet seen any armour that could take a full tail strike without a scratch.> _

_ >Yes. I just hope that they're going for good. If _you_ hadn't attacked them like that, things might have turned out differently. You just _had_ to go psycho then, didn't you.> _

Spiketail sighed, and then pounced sideways, knocking him into a tree. With a swift slash of her claws, she pinned him in place. _> I'm sick and tired of your bloody mind, always being so self-righteous and sure that the Alien way isn't the right way. You can't stay in the middle ground, Shadow! You switch on your aggression when you need it, and then you become all human again.> _ She slowly brought her head close to his, and drew her lips back in a snarl. >_ The Queen once made you make a choice. Remember? Time you considered your situation, and remembered the choice you made.> _

_>Spiketail. Let me up. Now.> _

_>DO YOU REMEMBER?> _

_>Of course I fricking remember! Now will you get off?> _

_>No! This is where it either starts or ends, Shadow! You need to make that choice again. Because this time, you don't have any excuses. You can't say anything about obeying the Hive, because there isn't one. Not any more, not with Spineback in charge. Before, we were part of it all! When the old Queen was alive, if we had been given a choice about whether we wanted to leave, we wouldn't. DON'T ARGUE, SHADOW! You wouldn't have!> _

_>You don't know me! You haven't followed my path, Spiketail! You got an overdose, remember? You're less human than me! You got a head start! And don't give me that about excuses, I made my choice!> _

_>You're only lying to yourself. You've only made one human kill in cold blood, and that was at the command of the Queen. And when the Queen commands, you must obey.> _ Spiketail withdrew, and Shadow got up with a hiss. _> You need to make that choice again. Without any external influence.> _

_>I've killed plenty of times.> _

Spiketail snarled. >_ Don't make me pin you down again. It's not the same. The only way that I can break you out of your loop is by getting you to kill something of your own species. You might use the Alien part of your mind to allow yourself to attack and commit acts of violence, but if you kill one of your own kind there's nothing to shield you from the consequences.> _

_>I won't follow that path. Don't try to make me.> _

_>Then this is where it ends. Go back to **Asphodel**. Live among your precious humans. Don't think about coming back.> _

Shadow stared at her in shock. Without another word, Spiketail leapt into the trees and was lost to sight.

* * *

POSSIBLE INSTABILITY IN HIVE 743 – ASPHODEL LINKED 

NEW QUEEN GENERATED POSSIBLE THREAT TO ASPHODEL

BEGINNING NEW CALCULATION

NEW ORDER CREATED: ASPHODEL 212-GAMMA

ASPHODEL 212-GAMMA STORED

CALCULATION ENDS

* * *

Deep in the holds of the **_Asphodel_**, Holly stared at a computer screen. 

"You must be kidding. It took scientists months to develop this program. And they had full military backing."

"Oh, no, Miss Chance," said Vathris. "This is the real thing, all right. Within your grasp, should you want it. Not perfect, but we're working on ironing out the problems you mentioned."

Holly reached convulsively out towards the display, and then pulled back.

"No," she said. "Not yet. I don't want to take the risk if it's not perfect."

"We could always work on improving it further. Not just the basic one. Would you like that?"

She shrugged. "Just tell me what you can come up with, and I'll let you know." She stared around the room. "How on earth did you get all this equipment? It's not standard on a warship, I know that much."

"T-T has been generous. In exchange for a few little projects, we've been given all we need."

She looked hard at the **_Aphodel_**'s captain. "Is this one of those projects? From what you've told me about T-T…"

"T-T is curious about this field, but this isn't a particular project, no."

She turned back to the display, admiring the thing on the screen. "Not many of the crew would like this. Of the **_Charon _**or the**_ Asphodel_**."

"Why do you think we do the research in the basements? Come. People might notice that we're missing…"

_First battle between the Yautja and the Hive. And a mysterious basement project… plus what's this 'T-T'? Look out for the next chapter…_


	3. Chapter 3

_Who knows, Dawley… you might have it right… _

_Sorry for the delay. A bit of writer's block, combined with revision and organising my Freelancer clan…_

_Oh yes, to put you out of your misery, miikaawaadizi, the pronunciations for the Pred names are:  
Othar'a cha: oh-tar-ah-cha  
Kal'Arak'e cha: kal-ahr-ak-eh-cha. Happy now?_

"Good grief, what happened to _you_?" said Elysa, staring at Shadow.

>I don't know. I didn't know she was serious… and now…>

"You're not making any sense!"

Shadow walked up next to the girl, and flopped on the log. >Spiketail just gave me an ultimatum.>

"Which was…"

>She wanted me to make my choice. A choice that I thought that I had made months ago.>

Elysa considered this. "From what I've heard about you –"

>Have you been asking about me?> Shadow interrupted.

"Yes. You don't mind, do you?"

He mentally shrugged. >I'm quite flattered, I suppose. I'm sorry, I interrupted.>

"As I was saying, from what I've heard, I can guess what that choice is. And I can also guess that you won't tell me what it is."

>Probably right on both counts,> he said morosely.

"And the ultimatum was about being separated from the Hive?"

>Also right.>

They sat in silence for a while.

"So you decided to stay with us?"

Shadow snorted. >No decision on my part. I was _exiled_. Abandoned. And now I'm condemned to be stuck with people who always have one eye on me and the other one on the nearest pulse rifle. Joy.>

"Well…" Elysa hesitated. "Admittedly, I've only known you for a couple of days. But _I_ trust you."

He smiled mentally. >That's nice to know.>

* * *

CALCULATION COMPLETE 

COMMAND ASPHODEL 212-GAMMA HAS HIGH PERCENTAGE CHANCE OF PRODUCING NEGATIVE RESULTS

CREATING NEW COMMAND SEQUENCE

ACTIVATING IMPLANTS

COMMAND RAPHAEL-H 2430-LAMBDA CREATED

COMMAND RAPHAEL-H 2430-LAMBDA TRANSMITTED

INITIATING OBSERVATION

CALCULATION ENDS

* * *

"Perfect," snarled Othar'a, staring at the sheer black construct below them. "Another hive." 

"That's the one that the Elder said was in the wreckage of an ooman vessel, isn't it?" said Kal'Arak'e. He pulled out the combistick, ready for action, and gestured towards the rusted metal protruding from the hive.

Othar'a nodded. "Looks like a designation on the side."

Kal'Arak'e squinted at the letters, calling their sounds to mind. "Ar-ah-eeh-peh… the rest is submerged."

Something screeched from within the hive, and several drones leapt out from the dark entrance. They climbed the trees in a frenzy, avoiding whatever was behind them.

Othar'a remembered with a lurch how the Hard Meat absorbed the DNA of their hosts. If this hive had infected some of the larger predators…

A terrifying monstrosity lurched from the hive. Its jaws were much longer than usual, and the body was more filled out than the usual bony creatures. Two pairs of long, wickedly clawed arms swung out from its chest, and the surprisingly spindly legs powered it far faster than any animal that size should move. The tail, unusually, was rigid, and stingless, but the thing looked deadly without it.

Following close behind was another creature. This one was quadrupedal, had three tails with long stings, and also had huge jaws.

A small swarm of winged monsters screeched as they flapped away from a chimney-like opening in the hive. Their tails were almost twice as long as their bodies, and their limbs all had huge claws.

More and more Aliens of every possible configuration flapped, leapt, scuttled and strode from the hive opening. This was clearly a big one, which had thrived here.

The two Predators didn't even dare breathe. If they remained absolutely still, the _kainde amedha_ might dismiss the electrical signature of their shiftsuits as unimportant.

Might.

Kal'Arak'e counted almost a hundred of the creatures moving past the their lookout position, but evidently they were not interested in the watchers.

They waited for a while after the last one left, and then Othar'a abruptly dropped to the ground.

"Are you mad?" her brother hissed.

"Don't you remember the other detail of the _zazin tjau'ke chiva_? If we are to return with any sort of honour from this, we must bring a great trophy. If we're good, we might be able to get one in there. Most of them have left, we'll never get another opportunity like this!"

"Wait!" he called, but she was already moving into the darkness. "_Dtai'Kai-dte sa-de nau'gkon dtain'aun bpi-de_," he commented sadly, and chased after her.

* * *

Spiketail swore furiously at the sight of the huge Alien host. She had seen something of a Hive war, back on Earth, and it was only for full-scale war that that many drones were unleashed. And those xenos were heading directly for the **_Asphodel_**… there was no way that the Hive could withstand that many, especially with Spineback still in her cocoon. And once they were defeated, the other hive would start on the **_Asphodel_**. 

Shadow would die.

She hissed again. Her feelings for him certainly included distaste and a small chunk of hatred, but they were friends. More than that, she realised – he was her _only_ friend.

There were two options. The first was to rush back to the **_Asphodel_** and the Hive – she could warn them, help in the battle.

There would be no difference in the outcome. There were too many, and they were too big and powerful.

That left option two.

Do something at this end.

She dropped to the ground, and scuttled into the dark walls of the hive.

* * *

The moment they entered the hive, the Predators sensed the oppressive atmosphere of the Hive's Queen focusing on them. The anxiety of entering a hive was usually attributed to fear of the Aliens' abilities, but the _Tjau'ke Thwei_ had taught them that it was the Queen's mental influence. 

"So much for stealth," muttered Kal'Arak'e. "We might as well lose the shiftsuits and save the power."

At the mental command, the devices deactivated.

With a double click, they opened their _ki-its pa_ to the full four-metre length, and were almost immediately attacked.

Three ordinary drones leapt from the shadows. Despite the extremely quick reactions that were a peculiarity of the Hives on the planet, they were too slow to avoid the scything combisticks. Acid blood sprayed.

The mental pressure changed momentarily, then redoubled. A feeling of the hopelessness of the situation flooded them, but they fought it.

Scanning the hive's walls using their bio-electricity filters in the helmets, they moved slowly into the next chamber.

The chamber was filled with small, spherical objects. Bio-electricity filtered from them.

An egg chamber.

Two eggs opened, and the facehuggers flew, but the harsh training of the _Tjau'ke Thwei_ Elder had prepared them for such an attack, and the parasites were neatly skewered.

"_Tarei'hasan_," said Othar'a scornfully. "In both senses of the word."

Kal'Arak'e began to chuckle, and then froze.

_All_ the eggs were opening.

"Those _pauk-de s'yuit-de_!" said Othar'a in disbelief.

"Back!"

They moved backwards, holding the combisticks in the _hult'ah hiju_, ready for the first attack.

The facehuggers took their time. Their simple minds were desperate to attack the intruders, to latch onto them and complete their purpose, but a greater mind held them in its grip. She knew that to save as many of her children as possible, they would have to be coordinated.

The Queen of the **_Raphael_** laughed to herself. She had lived for nearly fifty years, and had existed on this world for forty-nine of them. No puny Hunters would end her reign.

No, they were no threat now. She would have two more children to care for soon.

* * *

Spiketail moved quietly through the dark tunnels of the hive, marvelling at the strange beauty of the design. She hadn't been in many hive domes – back on Earth, the Hive had had to be constantly on the move to find new prey; in fact, the only time she had visited one of these structures was during a war with a particularly obstinate Queen shortly before they found the space port.

The faint pressure on her mind that indicated a Queen was nearby abruptly increased, and she felt the matriarch scanning her.

_>Have a good look, because it's the last thing you'll see if you don't call off your attack,> _ she snarled.

The Queen's sense became surprised. ¬_Who are you, little drone, that can speak with clarity? All the children I have ever known speak with images and concepts, not words.¬_

_>I speak for the Hive you are attacking, that is all you need know.> _

Scorn edged into the other's voice. ¬_What I need to know is not your concern, drone. I _will_ learn from you, whether you wish it or not.¬_ At her words, needles flashed through Spiketail's mind as the Queen tried to extract her memories by force.

_>Oh no you don't, you bitch.> _ She responded with a shove of mental force that removed her opponent from her mind entirely. _> I'm coming for you, whether you like it or not. Would you treat another Queen that way? I think not. For your insult to my Hive, you _will_ die…> _

¬_Have it your way, drone,¬_ the Queen responded. To Spiketail's horror, there was faint amusement instead of the anger she had been trying to coax. ¬_When you face me, then we'll see who has the right to respect…¬_


	4. Chapter 4

_>Shadow!> _

Shadow jumped. The words were faint, but it was unmistakeably Spiketail.

_>Don't interrupt, there's no time! The Hive and the **Asphodel** are about to be attacked by another hive. I'm trying to deal with the Queen at this end…> _ The voice had been growing fainter by the second, and it abruptly went completely silent.

A strange relief flooded through him, that she had tried to contact him after their argument. It was quickly pushed aside by urgency – if Spiketail was trying to take on a Queen by herself, the attack must be a big one.

"What's up?" asked Elysa.

>There's an attack coming! Warn the people on the **_Asphodel_**, make sure they get plenty of weapons! It's an Alien hive!>

Elysa didn't question him, just sprinted for the doors.

Now came the bit he wasn't looking forward to. Tackling the Hive.

He ran at speed for the little dome-shaped structure, and sensed a change at that moment. As he moved to the central chamber, he saw the Spineback's cocoon shiver.

With a loud crack, it split, and the new Queen emerged.

_¬Ah… so cramped in there after a while…¬_ She turned to face him, and sensed that something was wrong. _¬Well? Speak!¬_

_>We're under attack by another hive… matriarch.> _ The final word was in insincere hiss, but Spineback ignored the slight.

_¬So another Queen has declared war on us. The fool will pay. Assemble the forces – all drones, to the trees. Praetorians, guard me here.¬_

>I have alerted the humans. They will come with aid soon. And Spiketail is attempting to deal with the opposing Queen directly.>

Spineback hissed. _¬I suppose the humans will be useful. Spiketail will not succeed, though. Even before I transformed, I would have known it would be unlikely. Now, with the knowledge of my power, it is impossible.¬_

_>She's resourceful.> _

_¬Enough! There is no time for discussion. I shall rely on you to lead the drones – I will have enough to be concerned with here.¬_

* * *

"The _Tjau'ke Thwei_ didn't say anything about how to deal with a situation like this, did they?" said Kal'Arak'e sadly. "I think we are about to meet the Black Warrior. So much for an honourable success of the _chiva_." 

"We're not hosts yet," snarled Othar'a.

There was a soft hiss from the egg chamber, and a drone poked its head into the corridor.

"Wonderful," muttered Kal'Arak'e. "An audience."

The drone looked at first them, and then at the assembling swarm of facehuggers.

And then, in one swift movement, it ripped apart one of the parasites. The creatures moved everywhere, self-preservation overcoming the Queen's control.

Some leapt at the Predators, but in such an uncoordinated way that they were fended off with ease. The drone killed swathes of them. Acid blood sprayed everywhere.

And then it was over.

Othar'a flicked a skewered facehugger off her _ki-its pa_, and turned to face the newcomer.

"I don't think that one belongs to this hive," said Kal'Arak'e. "The size… it must be from that clearing, the ones we met before."

The drone hissed, and then moved back through the egg chamber.

* * *

¬_Do you know what you've just done?¬_ screamed the **_Raphael_**'s Queen. _¬You destroyed my children! Slaughtered them, as though they were unwanted hosts! Not even in war are the eggs destroyed with such callousness!¬_

_>Guess what: I don't care. Now you know what it is like to feel loss. Something which I think you've had too little of,> _ replied Spiketail coolly. _> You've clearly had a sheltered life insofar as it's possible on this world. I intend to destroy everything here.> _

Her opponent's voice abruptly calmed. _¬No matter. Eggs can be replaced. Hives rebuilt. Drones replaced. I shall enjoy killing you for the pain you have inflicted, but even if you were to leave now… you can't do any _permanent_ harm.¬_

Spiketail hissed. She should have known that the Queen wouldn't back down because of a few squashed facehuggers.

That left only one option. And given the choice, she would rather join Shadow fighting the oversized Aliens on the **_Asphodel_**.

This was when the universe found out what happened when a drone faced a Queen in combat.

She realised that there were footsteps behind her, and spotted the two strangers following her.

They had been tough opponents before. They might be able to help.

There was a chance.

* * *

"Sister, by my bearings the drone is heading for the centre of the hive. That will take us straight to the Queen. I had thought that we might take on a Praetorian, but a full Matriarch…" 

"Who knows what will happen? Besides, do you think that when this is over we would be able to stand before the Elder with pride, and say that we retreated from this confrontation?" Othar'a paused, and said more softly, "_M-di h'dlak_,_ m-di h'chak_, brother."

"_Nan-de than gaun_, sister," replied Kal'Arak'e.

The corridor opened out, and they found themselves in the central area. At the end of the room, the Queen rested. Around her, three Praetorians rose up, and hissed.

"Well, you wanted a Praetorian skull, brother…" said Othar'a with a chuckle. "You may have the chance to get one…"

* * *

Shadow reviewed the drones, and then scanned the humans on the ground. Fourteen drones lay in wait in the trees, ready for the signal to attack. Twenty humans stood below them, armed with a mixture of pulse rifles and shotguns. 

And then it began.

A swarm of flying Aliens dived for the waiting drones. Shadow dodged one, and lashed out with his tail. The creature was knocked off-balance slightly, but no other damage was done.

It leapt, screeching. Shadow spun, claws at the ready, and again made contact. Blood spurted from the wound, but the creature seemed unaffected.

"Shadow!" yelled Holly "Get them to the ground, we can shoot them off you!"

>To the ground!> he called, dodging a flick from the creature's long tail. The distinctive _kreeo_ of pulse rifle fire sounded, and the attackers died in swathes. A roar of triumph from the humans was quickly drowned out by a roar of a different kind.

The huge drone with four arms and long jaws burst through the tree line. With a swipe of its claws, it shredded the ground where the motley group had been standing moments before.

Holly backed away, firing steadily at the behemoth, but through either general mutation of the Alien DNA or the tough skin of the creature's host, the AP shells did little except chip its armour.

It roared again, and charged. Shadow leapt onto the creature's back, and clawed deep.

To his horror, despite the force of the blow, his claws slid off the creature's hide. It didn't even seem to notice the attack, and he was knocked off by another flyer.

With a long scooping motion, the monster picked up Holly and swung her towards its jaws. As it opened them to release its inner ones, Holly triggered the grenade launcher.

It seemed puzzled as the little capsule was sent straight down its throat. It choked, trying to remove the obstruction, and dropped her. She dived for cover just as the grenade detonated, sending acid everywhere.

There was no time to celebrate, though as another huge monster reminiscent of the bizarre crocodile-beast that had attacked them back at the **_Charon_** was charging towards her.

Shadow was locked in combat with a more traditional drone that was slightly larger than him, and had strange mandible-like protrusions around its jaws. Dodging its lunges, he spat out his inner jaws. They punched straight into the drone's head, but it somehow withstood the blow.

Holly's opponent had evidently learned from its colleague's mistake, and was trying to kill her with its claws and tails. Due to its thick armour, it somehow survived two grenade hits before she decided it was a waste of ammo.

"Holly! Are you there?"

She slapped the comlink control on her arm. "I'm kinda busy here, Vathris!" she yelled, dodging another swipe from the creature.

"The technicians believe that they can use the **_Asphodel_**'s weapon systems! Get everyone to retreat from the tree line, we're going to blast them!"

"I hope it works," she commented. "Back! Back from the trees! Shadow, get them back!"

The mandible-drone snarled, and flicked its tail. Acid sprayed from Shadow's chest, but it was little more than a flesh wound. >Retreat! The humans are going to destroy the main army of them!>

A groaning sound echoed across the clearing as the **_Asphodel_**'s turrets slowly rotated, fighting against the creepers that had grown into the systems. The six three-metre long gun barrels aimed towards the skirmish, and fired.

Three of the weapons groaned again, some damage to the power lines preventing them from firing. The remaining three began spinning, yellow arcs of electricity coursing along them.

Three coherent beams of energy lanced into the huge Alien swarm. Trees were incinerated instantly by the blasts, and Aliens were reduced to ash in seconds. The remaining fifteen or so drones stared at the destruction, the sheer amount of death shocking even their simple minds.

The end was swift and brutal. Despite their thick armour and terrifying strength, the creatures were wiped out one by one in rapid succession by the Hive.

It was over.

* * *

The Queen screamed as the last of her minions was killed. Building up the hive to that size had taken her entire life. All destroyed in minutes. 

_¬Your hive may have won the war, but I can still vent my fury on you, drone,¬_ she hissed. _¬Guards! Take the Hunters for implantation. Leave the drone to me.¬_

Spiketail's heart leapt. Somehow, the Hive had destroyed their attackers. _> It was your choice to attack us,> _ she replied. _> This is what comes of attacking without warning or knowing what you're up against.> _

_¬No choice,¬_ muttered the Queen. _¬Maybe it'll leave me alone now. But I will still kill you!¬_

With a huge _crack_, the resin struts that supported the Queen snapped. As the Praetorians lunged forward to attack the Hunters, the Queen of the **_Raphael_** flexed her muscles.

With a screech that shook the ancient metal of the ship, She charged. Spiketail leapt to the side, and only just avoided the huge tail stinger that flashed towards her.

The Queen swiped with her claws, ripping chunks out of the ground as Spiketail dodged again. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Hunters spinning their spears, desperately fending off the Praetorians without being able to counterattack.

Again the Queen lunged with terrifying speed for so large a creature. Inner jaws flew, taking a chunk out of Spiketail's side.

The Queen abruptly paused. _¬Did you really think that you could face me in combat and survive, let alone win? You've not even struck back yet.¬_

A screech ripped through the air as a Praetorian was speared by one of the Hunters. It fell, thrashing, before falling still.

As though in slow motion, the Queen turned to see the battle.

Queen's can't see straight backwards. And Spiketail was now in Her blind spot.

She leapt, claws flashing. Even with surprise, she almost missed as the Queen leapt away, realising Her mistake.

The Queen screeched, more in anger than pain, as Spiketail ripped into Her back. The massive tail snapped forwards, almost impaling the drone, but Spiketail dodged.

The Queen back away, slamming into a wall, and Spiketail was forced to leap off to avoid being squashed.

_¬Nice move,¬_ she snarled. _¬But you won't get another opening like that.¬_

For the first time since Haines had injected her with the retrovirus, Spiketail felt fear. She had attacked with all her strength, and yet her opponent had only been infuriated further.

* * *

Othar'a gave a yell of triumph as she lunged, sending her combistick straight through the Praetorian's throat. With a twisting wrench, she neatly decapitated the creature. 

The last remaining Praetorian hissed, and slowly backed off. Its attention switch cost the creature its life, as Kal'Arak'e spun the _ki-its pa_ and neatly threw it, skewering the monster and pinning it to the hive walls. It gave one final wail of pain, and then fell limp.

The two Predators turned to face the other battle scene. Both combatants were bloody, but had escaped any serious injury.

With a screech that was almost tangible, the Queen charged at the drone. It moved to avoid the behemoth, but was a shade too slow. The blow sent the Alien flying, and it slammed into the wall of the Hive.

"Sister, the thing is distracted. No Yautja was ever called _syuit-de_ for backing down from a _kainde_ Queen. We have our trophies, let's go!"

Othar'a clicked sadly. "Go if you want. That drone will die if we don't intervene."

"Are you _l'ulij-bpe_? Not even an Elder dares face a matriarch with only _ki-its pa_! Come _on_!"

With a roar of challenge, Othar'a charged, and threw the combistick. It was a perfect shot, going straight through the creature's right leg.

It crashed to the ground with a hiss of pain, but got up almost instantly. With a sharp jerk, it yanked out the weapon and snapped it. Acid dripped to the floor, and hissed as it found a patch of bare metal.

The monster just looked at the Predator, not even hissing. Othar'a extended her wristblades to their full length, and heard Kal'Arak'e do the same next to her.

"You stayed, then," she commented.

"The Elder will never believe us if we survive this," he replied. "Time to squash this oversized _zabin_."

The drone hissed, and moved away to the Queen's left side. Realising the wisdom of the move, Othar'a moved to the creature's right side.

With a roar of challenge, the Queen charged Kal'Arak'e. Both Othar'a and the drone leapt for the monster's back at the same time, and stabbed deep. Acid bubbled from the wounds, and the matriarch screeched in fury. The tail whipped back and forth, knocking into them, but they clung on like grim death.

Kal'Arak'e charged, avoiding the flailing of the creature, and tossed his recovered _ki-its pa_ to Othar'a. "The neck! Go for the neck!"

The Queen reared up, and lunged for the only opponent within her reach – Kal'Arak'e. As Othar'a hacked down with the combistick, the Queen of the **_Raphael_** spat.

The strike ripped through the matriarch's neck, cleaving the head off completely. With a strange slowness, the body crumpled.

Kal'Arak'e screamed. The acid spittle had burnt through the armour on his arm. Othar'a ran to him, and yanked off the armour, but the damage was done.

"Looks like we got that honourable trophy," he said softly. "I hope I'm there to see the Elder's face…" He fell limp, unconscious.

Othar'a stared at the limp body. "No… come on, brother. It wasn't that bad, surely…"

She sensed a presence next to her, and looked up to see the drone. "Back!" she snarled, and waved the wristblades at the Alien.

* * *

Spiketail sighed. It had obviously been too much to hope for that these 'Hunters' as the Queen had called them, would trust her. 

A noise that would have been too faint for anything but an Alien to hear reached her, and she spun to see Shadow.

_>You're here! I was worried that you might have…> _ She stopped, remembering her demand of him.

_>Let's just leave it at you're happy to see me, and forget the Alien-or-human thing for the moment, shall we? I was worried about you too, Spike. When you said you were going to take on a Queen… I see you've made some friends.>_

The uninjured Hunter looked up again, and said something defensive.

_>If only we could understand them! Make them understand we want to help…> _ said Spiketail sadly.

_>You've changed your tune a bit,> _commented Shadow. _> What happened to 'can we kill them _now_'?> _

_>Got left behind when they stayed to help me kill the Queen when they could have run for it. Come on Shadow, you're better at this than I am. Help me help them. I owe them that at least.> _

_>Maybe if I could get closer, I could link with them…> _

* * *

Othar'a sensed something approaching, and leapt to her feet, combistick at the ready. "Get back, I –" She stopped, realising with horror that another drone had arrived and was approaching. 

The newcomer bowed its head, and generally tried to look unthreatening. She hesitated, and then lowered the _ki-its pa_. She tensed as it returned to normal, but didn't react.

With crude gestures, it got across an idea of communicating. And a need to be close to be able to do so.

The final gesture was something about standing up… with a rush, she realised that it was talking about Kal'Arak'e. If they could help him somehow…

In a move that went against every instinct that she had, she moved towards the drone until they were face to face. She felt a faint pressure, similar to that of being in a hive with a Queen, but nothing more.

With a rapid movement, the drone's hands snapped out, and grasped her head. She struggled for a moment, as the creature drew her head towards its crest.

The two heads made contact, and everything went black.

_Phew! My most prolific chapter yet. Hope you like…_


	5. Chapter 5

"I've got a bone to pick with you, Vathris."

The captain of the **_Asphodel_** sighed, and turned to face Holly. "Come in, why don't you," he said dryly.

"You never said the **_Asphodel_**'s guns worked. I thought they had been fried by the crash, but no! You let us risk our lives going out there!"

"It wasn't up to me."

Holly hesitated. "What do you mean?"

"Sit down," said Vathris. She did so, and looked at him expectantly.

"**_Asphodel_** was equipped with prototype CPSCs – Charged Plasma Stream Cannons. You saw what they were capable of just now. Unfortunately, they drain huge amounts of power with each shot – when this crate was fully functional, in order to keep our power plant out of the red, we would be firing one burst every thirty seconds. And that was with all three power cores working."

Holly stared. "You said that two of the cores were reduced to scrap by the crash, and the third is at half-effectiveness. Yet you were able to fire three blasts…"

"T-T. It's infiltrated the computer and power systems, and transmits energy directly to our systems. Without that, **_Asphodel_** would be just another wreck."

"So why the hell didn't T-T give us that power immediately? Why didn't you tell me about this before?"

"Because…" Vathris sighed. "T-T wanted our friendly neighbourhood hive dead. Too 'unpredictable'. It doesn't tell me much about the rest of its 'minions', but I suspect that it had implanted a chip of some sort in the Queen of the attacking hive, and got it to attack. The thing sent me a message directly after you left to defend the ship – it wanted us to stay out of it, the **_Asphodel_** would be left alone by them.

"But it was too late then, of course," he continued. "You'd already left, and if I recalled you, it wouldn't look too good, would it? Most of the **_Charon_**ites, even if they were threatened by those Aliens, wouldn't want to leave them unsupported, would they? You owe them too much."

"You got that right," replied Holly. "They saved our butts at least three times!"

"Precisely. I couldn't do anything. So I explained the situation, and T-T decided that it was a choice between losing 'H-Raphael' and the crew of the **_Asphodel_** becoming 'unstable'. It decided on the former, and provided the power for the CPSCs."

"You should have told me about it, though. You would have kept it from me that the hive had been wiped out, and you could have prevented it!"

"Look around you, Holly," said Vathris sadly. "Look at the crew. Look at the ship itself. You saw what happened to the **_Charon_** when T-T got tired of it. If I don't keep it sweet, we're all dead.

"Unfortunately that's not the end of it," he continued. "T-T's problem with the hive isn't over. And since we scuppered its original plan, it'll want us to finish the job. As far as I can see, we've got only two options."

"If you're suggesting that we kill them ourselves –"

"If I thought that was the best option, I'd have recalled you and the **_Charon_**ites be damned. But it is _an_ option. The other…"

Holly's eyes sparkled as she saw where he was going. "It's ready?"

"As ready as it'll ever be. This isn't a decision to be taken lightly, Holly. If there's any doubt –"

"Vathris, I've been waiting for this for four years. Even before then, it must've been somewhere deep inside me. I ran out of doubts a long time ago."

The captain of the **_Asphodel_** smiled. "It'll take a while to fully generate the required code, but when it's ready… it's all yours." She stood up, ready to leave. "And Holly…"

She turned. "Yes?"

"Good luck."

* * *

Memories flashed before Othar'a. Faint memories as a mere suckling. Leaving home for the first time. Going to a _kehrite_ for the first time. Learning to use a knife. Progressing through the different weapons of the hunter. Seeing the _kainde amedha_ for the first time. Joining a hunting ship with Kal'Arak'e to see the universe. Seeing oomans. Learning about all the many races of the galaxy. Taking the _Kainde Amedha Chiva_, and coming away from it with two kills. Feeling the bite of acid as the Elder marked her. Deciding to stay with the Hunters instead of taking a background role, like many females did. Making her first Hunt with her brother as free-ranging warrior. Meeting an Elder of the _Tjau'ke Thwei_. Hearing about this planet. Persauding Kal'Arak'e to join her coming here. Seeing the strange crashing ship. The puzzle of the _pyode amedha_ and _kainde amedha_'s alliance. Getting sent out on the _Zazin Tjau'ke Chiva_. The drone coming closer. Blackness… 

The images stopped. All that was left was blackness.

"What is this?" she asked, and was surprised to hear her own voice.

"A bridge," answered something. "A bridge between our minds." It was silent for a moment. "Your species is so different to anything that I've ever encountered. Your memories are so… for want of a better word, alien."

"Who are you?" she demanded. "Show yourself!"

"That would serve no purpose," it replied cynically. "Here, there is no such thing as sight. But I can show you my memories, since you showed me yours."

Images flew again. But they were very different – the colours were strange. The blurs of memories of sucklinghood were replaced by faint glimpses of oomans, and then finally became clear. Fear, everything was fear… everywhere, the _kainde amedha_ flickered on the edge of mind or vision. A concept of a planet infested with the creatures flickered in her mind, but was swept aside as the surroundings changed. White, pristine rooms… laboratories, perhaps? An ooman coming close. Injecting something. Skin changing from ooman pink to _kainde_ black. Limbs stretching. Claws growing. A tail forming. The world changing in appearance. And words flowing into the memories, not coming from sound, but… she realised that they were the voices of the hive. Meeting an ooman female. Getting released. Finding the hive. Releasing them. The battle to escape the facility. The journey across the infested cities. Tricking the computers into loading the hive onto a ship – she spotted the lines of the ship that they had seen crash. Changing the coordinates of the jump. Leaving hibernation. Releasing an ooman to open the stasis chamber. The awful battle to stop its mind from acknowledging the sight of the hive. Failing. Watching a drone kill the ooman, and the guilt of failure. Hiding in the air vents. Realising that it had all gone wrong. Revealing themselves to the oomans. The uneasy alliance. The gambit of travelling through the nebula. The crash on the planet. The battles against the local fauna. The loss of the ship. Meeting new oomans. Going to another ship – the one that the Elder had warned them to avoid. Fighting against other _kainde_. Their destruction at the guns of the ooman ship. Rushing here. Seeing two yautja and another drone. The yautja coming closer. Blackness…

"So now you know something of what I am. And what my companion is."

Othar'a took a deep breath. "You've been through a lot…" She paused. "I don't know what to call you. Are you _pyode_ or _kainde_?"

"You've seen my memories – you should know that even I don't know the answer to that. Just call me Shadow. Come, withdraw from this contact. We need to help your brother."

The blackness took texture, and turned into the round cranium of Shadow, and the strange shapes of the hive.

"Thank you, Shadow," she said quietly. "If you can help him…"

>We'll do all we can,> said Shadow. She jumped in surprise – from his memories, she had assumed that they could only communicate through a direct link.

>I don't think it's serious,> said another voice. She remembered it from Shadow's memories – once an ooman named Kail, now a drone named Spiketail.

"You can speak to me now!"

Shadow mentally shrugged. >Presumably something to do with knowing how your mind works. In theory, I suppose that that means that all _kainde amedha_, as you call them, can communicate with any race if they have used a mental link like that. We can do it with humans due to having been the, I suppose.>

"But what about your companion?"

>I'll explain on the move. As Spike said, a Queen's spit isn't serious, but we shouldn't stick around here.>

With the casual strength of the Aliens, Shadow hoisted up Kal'Arak'e's limp body, and moved towards the exit.

>You should have seen it when we shared memories, but they did flow quite fast. It's for much the same reason that drones don't have names.>

Othar'a blinked. "But you have them."

>Yeah, well, we're different,> said Shadow. >Human mind stuck inside a drone's body – the result is that we're closer to a Praetorian than a drone. All drones are… how do I put this… they're almost like they're all one organism. What one drone knows, another can learn in a split second through the same mental link that allows us to communicate with the entire hive. Drones don't have names because they might as well be all the same. What one knows, all usually know. Do you see what I mean? Even the basic mindset is the same.>

>Whereas a Praetorian,> continued Spiketail, >has an independent mind. They have personalities, and are better thinkers than drones. Those qualities are… preparations, if you like, for Transforming into a Queen. Under normal circumstances, if a Queen dies or a new hive is formed, it is a Praetorian that undergoes that change.>

"But there are records of basic drones undergoing the change into a Queen," objected Othar'a.

>As I said, under normal circumstances. That will only happen if there is only one drone in the hive. If there are several drones (at least four), they can use a virus similar to the one that facehuggers use to implant embryos to change a victim into a Praetorian egg. If there are fewer than that, they cannot create sufficient amounts of the virus to cause that change. One drone will begin to mature mentally – over a period of a week, it will develop the same mental capacities as a Praetorian or Queen. Only then will it Transform.>

"The _I'ka'ga'ku_ would be in ecstasy if they were hearing this," commented Othar'a. "That delay was something that they could never explain. This is the process even in hives that have not been… enhanced?"

>We're not really that different from a normal hive,> said Shadow. >The scientists who fiddled with the genetic code couldn't make any drastic changes without worrying about affecting the whole system – and with a system as delicate as that of an Alien hive, that's a big danger. This is a good place.>

The Yautja looked around in surprise. She had been so engrossed in the explanations that she hadn't noticed where they had been going.

>Come on, up the tree,> said Spiketail, leaping onto the trunk of a huge gnarly one. >You can climb, can't you?>

"Of course," she replied, faintly stung by the comment. "It's an essential skill!" With a jump, assisted by the _awu'asa_, she landed on a low branch.

>If that's the best you can do…> said Spiketail with a laugh. With that, the drone was climbing at a rate of yards per second, the claws and basic strength of the Alien from sending her disappearing into the canopy.

* * *

ASPHODEL COMMAND VATHRIS CONFIRM TRANSMISSION 

TRANSMISSION CONFIRMED

INITIATIVE ASPHODEL 7-BETA ANALYSED

CHANCE OF SUCCESS: 90 PER CENT

ACCEPTABLE RISK OF INTERFERANCE AND FAILURE

CALCULATION ENDS

* * *

>You took your time,> said Spiketail with a laugh. Othar'a flicked open her wristblades, and waved them threateningly at the drone. 

"For your assistance in the hive, and for your offer of help for my brother, I consider you a friend. Don't push your luck, _kainde amedha_."

>Stop posturing, Yautja,> the drone returned. >We would have slaughtered you last time if you hadn't shoved that combistick against my head. Besides, it's two against one. Do you really want to find out the result of that?>

>This is the point when if we were all human, I'd be thinking that males are supposed to be the ones with testosterone,> said Shadow amusedly. >Come on now, stop baiting her, Spiketail. We're better physically, and they've got the gadgets that even the odds. Let's just leave it at that, shall we?>

"Better physically?" snarled Othar'a.

Shadow sighed, and reached out for a nearby branch. It was nearly a metre in diameter, and looked fairly solid. With a small effort, he snapped it off. >Any questions?>

Spiketail sniffed Kal'Arak'e's arm. >As I thought. The acid gave him a nasty burn, and the neurotoxins shut down his nervous system. Nothing permanent, just enough to cripple an attacker and knock them out for long enough to get webbed and implanted. He'll be up and about in an hour or so.>

>Then I'd better get back to the **_Asphodel_**. See how things are going there – I left the moment the attackers had been fried. On second thoughts…>

>What?>

>Look, I'm not sure I like the idea of you two being stuck here together. Maybe you should go, Spiketail.>

Spiketail hissed in faint amusement. >All right. See you later, my 'physically inferior' friend.>

Othar'a leapt to her feet with a roar of fury, but her tormentor had vanished down the tree.

>I think she actually likes you,> commented Shadow. >I haven't seen her this playful since we were back on Earth.>

The Predator cocked her head at him. "She's got a funny way of showing it," she grumbled, but there was a faint Yautja grin on her face.

* * *

"This section is off-limits – emergency repairs have resulted in Level 1, Sections 4, 5 and 6 being flooded with radiation." 

Holly smiled at the ingenuity of the defence – no-one sane would go hunting in the old cargo bay if it was flooded with radiation. "'What I do not believe in cannot hurt me'," she replied. "753 Gamma. ID Holly Chance."

"This section is off-limits," the computer repeated as the lock opened. It slid shut behind her, and she looked around the Aladdin's cave of technology.

Strange devices littered the room, but what interested her lay at the far end of the bay.

"Welcome, Holly Chance," said the computer monotonously as she touched the controls. "Please verify yourself."

"ID Holly Chance, 753 Gamma," she repeated.

"Thank you. This terminal is at your disposal."

"Access file VF912-Beta."

"Accessing."

"Assemble basic carrier from DNA sequence E512-Lambda."

The screen lit up with a sequence of DNA. It dropped back, and was joined by another strand. More sequences came together as the computer accessed, confirmed, and locked into place each strand. The sequence abruptly became even smaller as the sequence reached the edges of the screen.

Holly watched the process, mesmerised. How long she stood, she had no idea.

"Sequence complete," said the computer finally, dragging her back to reality. She sighed. Why did such a mundane voice accompany such a wondrous process?

"Analyse DNA sequence D537-Gamma, and confirm that all stages are capable of locking into DNA sequence E512-Lambda."

"Analysing."

The DNA sequence again began building, but this time it came in several different lines, each connected here and there to the next.

Such complexity… yet according to the scientists who had worked on this sequence, its simplicity was miraculous. Chimera sequences were so rare, and usually the creatures that used them were simple in the extreme… but not here.

"Analysis complete," said the computer, and again she cursed the lack of emotion in the voice. If a human were speaking instead of a computer, surely it would show the awe that this process demanded? "All stages are capable of locking into sequence E512-Lambda."

"Lock stage 4 DNA from D537-Gamma into the carrier."

"Initiating coding."

Both DNA sequences appeared on the screen, and one of the branches of the second sequence split off. It slowly began deconstructing, and swarmed over to the first. Branches split off the carrier sequence as it converted into a Chimera.

Again the branches of the original sequence split, but this time they swarmed into join directly onto the Chimera's branches.

It was like a dance, she mused. And like all dances, it had a finale…

"Coding complete."

"Produce a sample of the new DNA sequence capable of converting a human body."

"Producing… sample complete."

A small container ejected itself from the computer.

This was it. The aim of this entire basement project.

The retrovirus was ready.

She reached out for it, and felt something drop onto her hand. She recoiled in surprise, and felt the object.

It was a sticky, glue-like liquid.

As the recognition clicked, a dark, clawed hand reached down and snatched the canister.

>Planning to undergo a few changes, were we?> asked Spiketail coldly.

_Yes, I'm evil to leave it like that. Sadly, if I'd carried on, this chapter would probably have doubled in length… as a bit of preparation, you may want to re-read chapter one of Hades…there's a little clue in there…_

_Oh, and the letters in front of the various files and DNA sequences are a litte 'thank you' to some of you kind people who keep reviewing. Sorry if you're not all in there - not enough sequences... but thanks to all of you! _


	6. Chapter 6

_Time to reveal the full depths of my evil… this chapter was actually ready the same evening as Chapter 5. I've been holding it back, tormenting you… Enjoy…_

"Spiketail!" Holly leapt back several feet, and crashed into a computer console.

The drone stretched out luxuriantly, and dropped to the floor. With a flick too quick for the eye to follow, the retrovirus canister flew towards the wall and smashed. Holly made to rush for it.

>Don't bother. It's already dying. A retrovirus can only survive inside one of those canisters, or if it's been injected.>

Holly turned towards the Alien, pure loathing spread across her face. "What the hell are you playing at?" she yelled.

>I could ask you the same question,> Spiketail replied. The 'voice' was calm, but had a faint edge that suggested that fury was an option.

"This is MY choice! If I want to use that virus, that's up to me!"

>You made it up to us when you chose to become a Queen. Don't even think about lying to me, I've read the theories about xenomorph life cycles. Hell, I _wrote_ some of them. Egg, stage 1 facehugger, stage 2 chestburster, stage 3 drone or Praetorian, stage 4 Queen.>

Holly seemed to deflate.

>Tell you what,> said Spiketail in a nicer tone. There was a faint blur, and the drone was sitting next to her. >How about you tell me your story. No-one just has a look at a retrovirus and gets that obsessed about it.>

Holly sighed. "All right. But if I tell you…"

>No promises. If I don't like your little tale, I'll rip this little facility apart beyond any hope of reproducing that little virus. And don't try lying to me either.>

"All right. Four years ago…"

* * *

"Sound off!" roared the drill sergeant. 

Private First Class Holly Chance quickly checked her pulse rifle, and called out "Sir!" when it came to her turn. Around her stood a full company of marines, three hundred strong, all ready for their first combat mission.

"Squads one through three! Briefing room one! Four through…"

Holly ignored the rest – a useful skill in the military. Only listen to what applies to you; if you listen to everything, you might miss something.

Inside 'Briefing room one' (in fact a large transport vehicle on the 'front line'), she moved to a seat with the rest of the squads, and turned to salute the colonel.

"At ease, soldiers," said the colonel. She didn't know his name – the army was full of identikit officers. "As you know, under normal circumstances, you'd have some easy missions to begin with. Nothing too strenuous – dealing with pirates, maybe the odd insurrectionist. But with the bugs infesting this planet, I think you'll agree that these aren't 'normal circumstances'."

A few people chuckled.

"So, boys and girls, as you may guess, you're going against them. Again, normally, if you were sent into a situation like this, you'd have a few vets with you. But with the military coup taking over government, and the fact that we're stretched thin, you'll be going in just by yourselves. All of you will be taking the same hive – a nice little one about ten blocks west of here. Simple mission: kill everything. You find anyone still alive in the walls, toast 'em. We can't take any chances of infected.

"You'll probably have already seen enough about the bugs – some of the luckier ones here might have seen 'em in the flesh," he continued with a mirthless grin. "Few basic rules for dealing with them when in the field. Rule number one: You see a bug, don't bother with asking for permission to fire. Kill it, then warn everyone else.

"Rule two: You get hit by acid on your armour, strip it. That stuff'll go through it like a hot knife through butter, and it ain't like the chemistry set stuff. If it hits flesh, it'll keep on burning 'til its either burned itself out or there's no flesh left, got that?

"Rule three: if you have a flamethrower, torch the walls regularly in the hive. They're completely still, and don't show up on IR, so quite often they'll leap at you out of nowhere.

"Rule four: Stick together. You get split up, you're liable to get picked off one by one, and even if you aren't, you'll be so jittery that you'll shoot anything that moves.

"And last but not least… rule five: If you get surrounded, kick some ass before you go down. Good luck, soldiers. Dismissed!"

* * *

The three ten-man squads moved slowly through the derelict zones of the city. Phoenix had been reduced in population by three-quarters due to a mixture of evacuation and the predations of the Aliens. It was a well-known fact that there were four hives spread over the western sectors. What few civilians remained were huddled up in the east. 

The troopers were the usual mixture of psychos, roughnecks and patriots, with the odd do-gooder interspliced. Holly liked to put herself in the last category – she had only joined the Marines when the Alien infestation had become common knowledge.

There was a mixture of basic troopers, smartgunners and 'pyros'. Between them, each squad could theoretically take on an entire pre-twentieth century army and win.

The faint 'flick' of motion detectors echoed through the empty streets. Apart from the occasional 'clunk' as a soldier kicked a discarded object, and the steady soft tramping of their feet, the city was silent.

And then they were there.

The strange Alien resin coated the entrance to a huge building that looked like a theatre of some sort. The black, plasticky material branched away from the ornamental pillars, creating strangely beautiful arches. The lobby of the building was too dark to see anything of it.

"All right, men," said Sergeant Garrows, the only veteran in the unit. "Lock and load, and lets give those sons of bitches a one-way ticket to hell!"

The marines gave a roar of approval.

"Squad one, we'll take point. Two, you've got the rear. Three, you take the middle. And remember: if there's trouble, bunch up. You heard the colonel, if they split us up we've got a rat's chance in a vacuum."

Holly moved to the back with the rest of squad two, and chambered the pulse rifle's first round.

"Hellfire, it's dark!" said someone as they moved into the lobby.

"Switch on your torch, ya wimp!" returned Garrows. "Let's have a look around!"

"Oh my…"

The torches illuminated a scene from the darkest depths of the most tortured artist's mind. The broken bodies of hosts littered the walls, in various states of decomposition. The rest of the resinous walls somehow managed to be just as horrific, the strange shapes calling to mind all sorts of dark images that are best left in the depths of the imagination.

"Get used to it, men," commented the Sergeant as one or two retched. "You'll see worse before you're much older. Seeing your first emergence, now that's something that'll haunt your dreams for a long time. For now, stay focused! We can take these barstards!"

The quiet 'flick'ing of the motion trackers turned into the familiar rising 'beep' of a contact.

"You know, I think they make those things make a noise that'll scare the bejeesus out of you," joked someone.

"Location!"

"I'm getting readings from all around, sir! But on the edge of range. Not a problem yet."

Garrows swore. "I was hoping that we'd get the jump on 'em. We'll have to do it the old-fashioned way. Into the breach!"

The column moved into a huge hole that had been torn out of the wall that led to some sort of backstage area.

Holly looked around. The Aliens had managed the impressive feat of covering almost every surface with their resin.

One particular formation attracted her attention. It seemed to have stuck out more than most, and had a roughly oval shape. If you looked at it in a certain way, it looked like one of the bugs…

There was another. And another. Two on the ceiling. And all of them looked strangely similar. Everywhere else, all the shapes were unique. Here…

One of the shapes stirred.

She swore and ran for her squad. "They're in the walls! The WALLS!"

As though it were a signal, not one, not two, not five, but _fifteen_ drones leapt from the walls. Screams echoed as their claws found flesh.

"Cover!" roared Garrows. "Shoot with everything you've got!"

The rapid _kreeeo_ of pulse rifle fire sounded, and the drones shrieked as they were cut down by the AP shells. Someone screamed, and the horrific stench of melting flesh filled the backstage.

"Sound off!"

It wasn't good. The surprise attack had taken twenty of them.

"All right. We can still make it out of this as heroes. Bunch up, and make sure nothing gets past you!"

"Sergeant! Motion, all around us! Closest is two metres!"

The ceiling collapsed, and more drones swarmed out of it. A quick-thinking 'pyro' raised the flamethrower and torched three of them before the last ripped his face off.

The hisses, shrieks, screams and sounds of weapons fire got to Holly. Nothing mattered except getting _out_…

Drones leapt at her from the shadows, but somehow she avoided them.

And abruptly, it was over. Silence.

Senses slowly returned to her, and she saw her surroundings.

She was in the central stage. Seats, plastered with resin, rose up to the rafters.

She saw a few broken host bodies, cocooned into the seats, as though the Aliens had a twisted sense of humour. Giving them one last show…

She looked at the pulse rifle. '99' read the ammo counter.

She hadn't fired a shot.

There was a crash, and a drone moved out of a hole in the wall, dragging a limp body. It looked towards her and hissed, but continued with its task.

Wait – its lips were sealed again, but it was still hissing…

As though on a turntable, she turned to centrestage.

The Aliens had been giving the hosts in the seats a final show. It was a show of the most powerful being in the city.

The Queen's main head extended from the cranial shield, and turned to look at her.

It hissed again.

Another drone entered stage left, dragging another body. It joined the first, and began sealing its victim into the wall next to the huge egg sac.

It was abruptly torn apart by a spray of pulse rifle fire. Sergeant Garrows strode up next to Holly, somehow unharmed from that little slice of Armageddon.

"Sir?" she asked hesitantly.

"It's me, all right, Private. Let's blow that bitch to hell and get out of here."

Time slowed.

Holly turned to face the Queen. The creature was so… alien. As she stared at it, she saw the strange, alluring beauty of it. She saw the helplessness of being in front of their weapons, and without any of Her soldiers to defend herself.

Garrows was raising his rifle, about to fire the grenade launcher.

Holly raised her weapon, and fired one shot.

Garrows turned slowly to her, and stared. Blood welled from his mouth, and he managed one word. "Why?"

Holly was sobbing, out of fear, remorse, anger, she didn't know what. A black shape dropped from the higher levels, and with a swift snap of its inner jaws, killed him.

The Alien raised its muzzle, blood and brain tissue dripping. It hissed softly, but made no move to attack.

The Queen leaned forwards, and snarled. The drone backed off, and then vanished into the shadows.

Holly looked at the Queen. She was ready, for what she didn't know. Anything. Anything for the Queen. Anything for such… perfection.

Aliens cannot make expressions, but she could sense mocking amusement from the creature. Anger tried to well up – she had killed for Her, and now she was being tossed aside like useless rubbish.

But it couldn't. She couldn't hate something like that.

The Queen smirked at her again. Thank you for the aid, it seemed to say. Here is your reward: you may leave the hive with your life.

"But I did it for you!" she shrieked. Whether or not the creature could understand her didn't matter. "Sending me away is punishment, not reward!"

But the drones were back. They didn't attack, but they were threatening. They encircled her, and herded her away.

The next thing she knew she was standing outside. Alone. More alone than ever before.

* * *

"So now you know the sordid history behind my obsession," said Holly bitterly. "I was sort of on autopilot after that. Returned to the army, made my report, then resigned. I didn't tell them that _I_ killed Garrows, of course. Just said that everyone died in that backstage, and that I got out by some miracle. I wandered for a while. Almost hoped that some Alien would pick me up and implant me. Then I could… in some small way… join them. I eventually got over it. Managed to become someone vaguely normal. I convinced myself that I'd left that behind." 

>And then we turned up,> said Spiketail.

"Exactly. I heard the story about the retrovirus, and the obsession reared its ugly head again. I knew that the chip… all the information… everyone who had ever worked on it was gone. Hukken was no help at all; I asked casually once or twice. Turns out he didn't have anything to do with the coding of the virus itself. Useless."

>But then Vathris turns up with his little box of tricks down here.>

"I've no idea how I ended up telling him," she grumbled. "He can be a real smooth-talker when he wants. You're the second person I've ever told that full story. He showed a bit of sympathy, and asked if he could get a hold of some of that retrovirus of yours, would I want it?" She mimed a puppy-dog with its tongue hanging out. "That wasn't my exact response, it was bloody close. He just winked at me at the time, and I dismissed it as a throwaway comment. A week later, and he brings me down here."

>And the thing was only just ready?>

"It's been ready for a while. A few scientists that Vathris got on the job have been working on 'refining' it. They managed to make the change fine art, to hear him tell it. They haven't tested the thing, but apparently it's got '99 effectiveness'. And that missing one per cent is that I lose my mind in the process. They spat science at me – said something about the mind surviving the conversion relying on a specific section of the brain remaining the same, and making sure the transformation took place in a specific order. It was only just now that the captain suggested that I try it. He said that with this Spineback of yours in charge of the hive, things might get out of control, and suggested that I become a Queen and try to take it over. I leapt at the chance, and here we are." Holly turned to look at Spiketail. "You're right. This whole thing is stupid. I should just forget that this place even exists, and get on with my life. Do what you want to that terminal." She got up to leave.

>It wouldn't work, doing that.>

Holly stopped. "Doing what?"

>You change straight into a Queen, Spineback will slaughter you. One step at a time.> The drone grinned mentally. >If I were Shadow, I'd be having screaming fits. But I can sympathise with your feelings. I sort of ended up with them in reverse, after I changed. You want to change, I won't stop you. But if you do…>

"Yes?"

>…then we do it _my_ way. Which means starting you off as a drone. Well?>

Holly stared at the drone, and then started to laugh. " I was always terrified of you, you know. Shadow painted this picture of an out-of-control killing machine, and I never got it out of my head. Now I see that you _do_ have depth of character."

>I'll take that as a compliment,> Spiketail replied dryly. >I'm curious: how did you get DNA for the Alien sequence? You couldn't just assemble it from scratch. I should know; we tried it several times before Gorson gave us samples.>

"You Aliens shed so many skins," Holly replied with a smirk. "Such a shame to waste them…"

>Enough fooling. We've got a retrovirus to complete…>

* * *

ADDITIONAL DATA COMPILED SUBJECT HOLLY CHANCE ASPHODEL 89 PREVIOUSLY CHARON 17 

DATA CATALOGUED

RECALCULATING VALUE OF SUBJECT ASPHODEL 89

NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN VALUE OR THREAT LEVEL

CALCULATION ENDS

_Bloody hellfire… almost 2800 words, and all in just two scenes. Hope you like...  
_


	7. Chapter 7

Shadow crouched, watching his opponent. The other was completely still, waiting for his attack.

Well, if it was a waiting game, he could play that.

The other seemed to be nonplussed by this response, and broke the tension with a vicious swipe.

Shadow dodged, leapt to a higher branch, and then began his favourite method of approach – the rapid 'bounce' between walls, or any similar objects, that put almost any opponent off-balance. The other tried to predict the motion, and stabbed viciously, but he had expected that. Breaking the pattern, he once again threw the other off, and with a screech of triumph, he leapt.

His opponent stumbled backwards, trying to gain some room, but failed to get out of range. Shadow landed neatly on her chest, knocking her over, opened his jaws ready for the killing blow, and…

>Better,> he commented, helping Othar'a up. >But you need to get the image of 'stupid predictable Alien' out of your head. You tried to stay one step of me, I took advantage of that, and the rest is history.>

"It doesn't help that you're considerably faster than any _kainde_ I've ever seen," she grumbled.

>If it's any consolation, you'd have killed any _normal_ drone with ease there. But…>

"I know. Be ready to face any enemy without expectation."

>Exactly. You did much better when we first met, because you had no time to think – you had to rely on instinct. Let's try again.>

They returned to their starting positions.

Nothing moved for several minutes.

>Good,> Shadow said softly. >If you don't know what you're up against, never make the first move…>

"Please," Othar'a snarled. "I have been training all my life. I don't need an ex-ooman _kainde amedha_ giving me hunting advice."

Shadow leapt, and Othar'a was a fraction too slow in blocking him.

The collision never occurred, though. To his consternation, Shadow found himself being hauled back by the tail.

With a vicious flick, he extracted himself from the iron grip. Spinning to face his opponent, he found himself crushed under Othar'a's weight.

"And that, my little friend, is why you never turn your back on a Yautja," she said with a chuckle.

"Would you please explain what is going on, Othar'a?" said Kal'Arak'e plaintively. "I slow down the _kainde amedha_ attacking you, but instead of finishing it, you merely pin it down."

"Brother, meet Shadow," said Othar'a formally. "He found us this place for you to recover from your injury. He's…"

>Complicated,> Shadow offered. >Now will you get off me? We Xenomorphs might be well-built, but getting crushed by a several hundred-kilo alien hunter will affect anything.>

Kal'Arak'e stared. "Telepathy? But why didn't you communicate with us before?"

>Because I couldn't. I didn't know the… shape, for want of a better word, of your minds. Othar'a and I linked our minds and shared memories.>

"I don't know," the Predator grumbled. "I visit _Cetanu_ for an hour, and the world seems to turn upside-down."

>Let me fill you in…>

* * *

"I can't wait to see the look on Shadow's face when he finds out," commented Holly, looking at the newly created retrovirus. 

>Same here,> said Spiketail. >I suggest that you lie down. Shadow's transformation took around half an hour. Since this version is more advanced, it should only be five minutes, but you should make yourself comfortable. Especially as it's very painful at times.>

Holly lay on the floor, and pressed the injector against her arm. "Funny to think this is the last time I'll see the world through these eyes."

She activated the injector.

Billions of the microscopic organisms flooded into her bloodstream, and split up, all heading for the locations that their very DNA was attracted to.

The skin was the first change. The pink, human colour bleached out and slowly changed to the signature black of a Xenomorph. The texture changed as well – it was still yielding, but now felt elastic rather than flexible.

Organs shifted to fit strange new proportions. Her abdomen seemed to collapse on itself, leaving little more than the spine and hips.

Her head extended, stretching the skin with a painful squeaking sound. The skull shifted position on the neck, and the teeth lengthened and sharpened.

The tongue lengthened dramatically, spilling several inches out of her mouth before contracting. It rounded, becoming a tube, and the trademark inner jaws sprouted at the end.

Abruptly she cried out, a sound already changing into the bizarre shriek of an Alien. "My eyes!" she hissed. "I can't _see_…"

Even as she spoke, the eyeballs dissolved into their sockets, which in turn stretched out to form a smooth dome with the rest of the skull.

And then Holly screamed. Skin all over the body stretched grotesquely as the newly-forming inner exoskeleton squeezed flesh. In places the skin broke, and blood that was not quite red and not quite yellow dripped onto the floor.

With a ripping sound, her clothes shredded as the tail sprouted at astonishing speed. Simultaneously, claws sprouted from her hands, and as the shoes exploded from the pressure, fully Alien feet were revealed.

She screamed again, and smoke trailed from her mouth as sections of her body that were not yet acid-resistant were burnt away.

The ridges along the back and tail sprouted, and the few remnants of her clothing snapped off.

Spiketail looked at the limp body carefully. If there were any more changes to come, they were internal.

Where Holly had been, there was now a fully-grown drone.

_>Pain…> _

_>You will recover,> _replied Spiketail. _> What was damaged during the change will regenerate soon.> _

_>If I'd had any idea it would be like that, I might have though twice,> _ Holly said with a shaky laugh.

_>How does the world look now?> _

_>It's… more. I can see you in four different ways, and everything else in at least two. I don't know how to describe it…> _

_>You don't have to,> _ said Spiketail amusedly. _ >I can see it as well. Come. There's a whole world for you to see.> _

The two Aliens leapt for the ceiling, and disappeared through the air vent.

_>I'd have thought that Vathris would have blocked up a security risk like that,> _ commented Holly. >_ I wondered how you'd got in.> _

_>It's hard to keep us out if we want in,> _ replied Spiketail. _> Quite a few people have discovered that. Although they usually only discover it once.> _

They reached a junction where the vents opened out slightly.

_>Good. Time to begin.> _

_>Begin what?> _

Spiketail spun, and knocked Holly into the wall. _> Begin telling the truth. Or rather, begin being _honest_. I guessed that you hadn't said everything, and now you've joined the hive mind, I _know_. I can show you how to survive here, how to use what you've gained and how to acknowledge what you've lost, but not without trust. If I can't trust you, I might as well kill you right now.> _

_>You wouldn't!> _

_>Do you want to find out?> _

Holly looked at Spiketail in faint horror, somehow knowing that the other was not bluffing. _> This was the only way to save the Hive!> _ she blurted. _> Vathris said that the Hive had to be brought under control, or destroyed!> _

_>Better.> _ Holly relaxed for a moment. _> But not the full truth,> _ continued Spiketail with a vicious hiss.

_>There's this… thing!> _ said Holly, almost screaming._ >Vathris calls it T-T! It's been keeping **Asphodel** safe somehow, it's like it controls things in this area. Maybe even the entire planet! It supplies power to the ship, it was what allowed the **Asphodel**'s guns to fire earlier! It provided the equipment back there; Vathris mentioned that it had some projects to do with it! Please, that's all I know!> _

_>Thank you.> _ Spiketail backed off, as though nothing had happened. _> Now I can trust you. Here, in the Hive, there can be no secrets. Not between two who have to work with each other. And how else am I supposed to teach you? Hmm?> _

Holly slowly got up, looking at the other drone with a new respect. _> You keep changing in my view, Spiketail. I don't know _what_ to think any more.> _

The other grinned mentally. _> Perhaps it's better that way. Come on. Your first lesson awaits.> _

* * *

NEW DATA ACQUIRED 

INITIATIVE ASPHODEL 7-BETA HAS BEEN SET BACK

ANALYSING INFORMATION

ANALYSING DATA ON H-CHARON 7 – 'SPINEBACK'

ANALYSING DATA ON ASPHODEL 89

RECALCULATING SUCCESS RATE OF INITIATIVE ASPHODEL 7-BETA

CALCULATING EFFECT ON TIMESCALE AND CHANCE OF SUCCESS

FURTHER DATA REQUIRED TO CALCULATE EFFECT ON TIMESCALE

CHANCE OF SUCCESS WILL INCREASE

PROTOCOL: WAIT FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CALCULATION ENDS

_

* * *

>It's cute…> _

The Squealer kit looked around helplessly, and mewled faintly. Small, harmless insectivores whose only defence was a lightning turn of speed, the fact that Squealers survived on Hades was a small miracle.

_>It won't survive for long,> _ said Spiketail harshly. >_ Look at its left leg. Limp. The thing is lame – it's amazing that it has survived this long.> _

_>So what do we do?> _ asked Holly, with a growing unease.

_>Kill it.> _

>What_ did you say!> _

_>You heard me. Kill it. It won't survive for long anyway.> _

_>But… it's helpless.> _

_>First lesson, Holly Chance. Whatever your position in the hive, whether it is drone, Praetorian, Queen, or even facehugger: you must be prepared to kill, or deal with, anything if it gets in your way, or if the hive demands it.> _

_>That's hardly in my way! And what could the Hive gain from that little creature's death?> _

_>Aren't you hungry? When you look at it, search your instincts. Doesn't a corner of your mind demand warm flesh and blood, _need_ it to maintain yourself? I can see that you still suffer from the damage caused by the retrovirus. Food will speed up that regeneration.> _

_>But why that helpless thing?> _

_>That little adjective: 'helpless'. Do I need to say more? Your morals are just a memory from your human mind, something you must cast aside if you are going to survive here.> _

_>But…> _

_>But what?> _

Holly grinned foolishly. _> I'm vegetarian.> _

Spiketail stared at her, and then started to laugh. _> A vegetarian xenomorph. That's a new one on me.> _

Holly looked at the Squealer sadly.

Abruptly, the decision was made. She dropped from their vantage point in the branches, and swiftly crushed the creature's skull. Death came instantly.

As though a switch had been flipped in her mind, she ripped into the body hungrily.

_>Your first step,> _ said Spiketail. _> And as a representation of that first step, you need a name. The Queen gave Shadow and me ours. I shall just hope that I can live up to that.> _The drone was silent for a time. _> Talon. Yes, that fits you.> _

Holly/Talon looked up from the fragments of bone and skin that were all that remained of the Squealer, and considered. _> Talon. I could learn to live with that.> _

_>Good. Then it's time to meet the rest of your new family.> _

* * *

>There_ you are,> _ said Shadow. _> Where have you been? From your displays in front of these two earlier, I'd have thought that you'd want to come back here quickly.> _

_>I got delayed,> _ said Spiketail.

_>That's a nice way to talk about me,> _ said a new voice irritatedly. _> First I'm your protégé, now I'm just a delay.> _The owner cleared the treeline, and leapt into the little platform. _> Hi, Shadow. I presume that these are the 'yautja'?> _

_>Shadow, meet Talon,> _ said Spiketail. _> You've already met. But… Talon was different before now.> _

_>Retrovirus,> _ hissed Shadow. >_ No _normal_ drone sounds like that.> _ Recognition hit him like a ton of bricks. _> Holly? Surely not!> _

_>You need to work on your perceptiveness, Shadow,>_ replied Spiketail in an uncharacteristically breezy way. _>And as I said, it's Talon now.>_

Shadow crawled onto an outer branch, and slumped. _> Welcome to the family, I guess. You're the first person to take that virus voluntarily. I wish you much happiness from it.> _

"Are we missing something important?" asked Othar'a. She sensed that something had gone wrong, but being blocked from the hive mind prevented her from hearing the problem.

>Yeah, meet the latest victim of the retrovirus,> said Shadow grimly.

_>Don't you see? If there are facilities on the **Asphodel** that can create a retrovirus to change her into this, then surely the opposite change can be done! You could become human again. Isn't that what you want?> _

_>No! Not another word, Spiketail. You know that without my original DNA sequence, nothing of the sort can happen. I'm stuck like this, as an Alien, as a Xenomorph, until I die! So don't you go trying to make me accept this. You two go off and enjoy yourselves, I'm sure that you can find something to keep yourselves amused. You'll regret doing this before long, Holly. Or should I say Talon? I'm going. Don't follow me.> _ With that, he leapt from the branch, and vanished from sight.


	8. Chapter 8

Shadow didn't know where he was going, and didn't care.

There wasn't any intrinsic problem with other people messing around with the retrovirus, one part of him said. Why was he overreacting like this?

Because, another part retorted, the only reason why the human race has ever stood a chance against the Aliens was superior intellect. Placing a human mind inside a xenomorph – an enhanced xenomorph, at that – and that advantage was taken away.

Why are you so sure that Spiketail and… what was it? Talon? Why are you so sure that those two will turn against humanity? the other replied.

Oh come on, said the second. You _know_ how Spiketail acts. How she spoke with _pride_ about going on killing sprees back on Earth. And if Holly/Talon actually wanted to undergo the change, then surely she won't turn out much better.

Spiketail's not all bad, said the first defensively. You got her to admit that she didn't want any harm to come to the people of the **_Charon_**. She got an overdose of the virus, so her mind went further than yours did, but there is some humanity in there. Besides, she risked her life taking on that Queen, and look at how she begged you to help her help the Yautja! Those weren't the acts of a xenomorph.

Well what about what happened before that attack? the second replied bluntly. She practically ordered you to go onto the **_Asphodel_** and kill someone. That's not the act of a human. Do you really trust her to stay with the best-case scenario? 'Cos if she slips from that…

Talon'll help with that, said the first. Oh, Spike will try to bring her over to her brutal ways, but that can go both directions. Talon might give Spiketail back some humanity.

Maybe, the other replied doubtfully. But as I said, anyone who actually _wanted_ to use a retrovirus is probably half-xenomorph already. Mentally, anyway.

Don't be so melodramatic, the first said flippantly. We've known Holly for over a month, and surely any sort of imbalance like that would have shown through…

Abruptly the feel under his claws changed from bark to… something else. He focused on his surroundings, and realised what he had landed on.

It was a ship. The landing had clearly done a lot of harm, but the overall structure seemed to be intact. It was roughly crescent-shaped, and was made of a strange, resinous substance. In a bizarre visual inconsistency, one of the prongs that made up the shape was slightly shorter, yet managed to still look pleasingly symmetrical.

Nothing moved inside the hulk.

Driven by curiosity, Shadow moved to one of the numerous gashes in the hull, and entered.

The inside was reminiscent of a hive dome, but was made of a different substance, and there was a kind of pattern to it that was lacking in a hive.

Here and there on the floor were skeletons. At first they were too broken up to recognise, but they became more intact further in.

They were Aliens.

Dozens of splintered white exoskeletons littered the inside of the hulk. Scattered among them were some sort of resin structures.

He picked one up. It was a regular, cylindrical object with a short protrusion at the bottom. It was far too smooth to be natural, or of Alien design.

Further in, there were still more skeletons, including a few Praetorians, and still more of the disks.

One of the disks abruptly sparked as he approached, and to his astonishment, it lifted a metre into the air before dropping again. The protrusion swivelled, and glowed at the end a faint green, but then the entire apparition went still again.

There were fewer of the disks again, but still more skeletons. He had given up trying to count them, but there had to be over a hundred so far.

The corridors opened out into a central room, and the sight took his breath away.

Two huge skeletons lay in the centre of the room, locked in combat even in death. The first was unquestionably a Queen. The second was a lot smaller, maybe the size of a Praetorian, but unlike anything he had ever seen. It was bulky, and similar to a human body built on a much larger scale. The head seemed to be elephantine, with a long trunk-like appendage, and large eye-sockets.

>So quiet…> he said to himself. The scene was so terrifying, so strange, that he had to break the silence.

>I wonder how long they've been here…>

_/Almost five standard rotations of the planet you call Earth./_

Shadow leapt in surprise, looking for the source of the strange telepathy. It was almost like a Queen, but there was a different tone to it…

>Show yourself!>

_/As you wish./_

The air around the strange skeleton blurred, and _something_ moved away from the battlescene. With a creaking sound, the mover materialised.

It was a living example of the elephantine creature. Thick armour was layered all over the creature, leaving only the head exposed. Larger versions of the protrusions on the disks hung loosely from the creature's belt.

_/Consider yourself lucky that I no longer care about such intruders as yourself, P-17D./_

They've only been here five _days_? How have they been reduced to skeletons in so short at time? And what are you?

_/Our weapons reduce flesh to ash, leaving bone untouched. They were locked in battle, and I fired in the hope that the P-17M only would be affected. I was wrong, and both died. As for what I am… our word would be beyond your comprehension. Others have called us Pilots, Space Jockeys, Wraiths, and those that were once our slaves call us Tarutaska Amedha./_ Shadow stiffened at the Yautja term. _/You have encountered the Yautja, then. And communicated with them… something unheard of since the rebellion. Your Queens once called us… the creators./_

Shadow stared at the creature. >You… _created_ xenomorphs?>

_/Project 17. Our greatest success. Our most powerful weapon. The cause of our downfall. Such a simple concept… why waste drones or slaves when you can use soldiers that replicate from the foe? And afterwards, on a genetically-encoded signal to the Queens, all would die. Leaving us victorious… we were so proud when the DNA was spliced successfully, to create… you./_

>You spoke of rebellion? Yautja and Aliens communicating before?>

The creature laughed, a strangely painful 'sound'. _/No-one would have dared question us once. Masters of the galaxy. And now I, one of the last, am quizzed by an impudent… xenomorph, was it? I suppose I should tell you. Someone must remember our legacy, even if it is just a drone./ _It made a strange choking sound, and collapsed against the central control area._ /Ah… the end approaches./_

Shadow stared at the creature, and then saw a faint blip. Through their connection to the hive mind, an Alien can 'see' another's exact location from the place that their mind broadcasts from. And there was one such mind inside the Jockey.

It had been infected.

_/Our high point was billions of years ago./_ the Jockey said. _/We ruled the entire galaxy. Could cross it in a matter of hours. We were the first intelligent species to be formed in the galaxy, but others soon followed. Over two billion years ago, another species came close to our level of achievement./_ Shadow felt an unpleasant yank over the mental link._ /Ah yes. You have met them already. The term that was used was Cythera./_ It choked again. _/Our war with the Cythera destroyed both our races, to the point that we no longer took part in the wars, using slaves and machines to do the fighting. That was when we created… you. The ultimate weapon. Combined with our Yautja slaves, we pushed the Cythera to the edge, and then destroyed their homeworld. We thought they had been destroyed, and but obviously we weren't as thorough as we believed./_

_/Our war with the Cythera decided us in the matter of what to do with the younger races. They were to be enslaved, or destroyed. And that was what we did, for millions of years. Until it went wrong. A few ships of Yautja overwhelmed their masters and fled, taking several eggs of what they called kainde amedha. They hatched the eggs, and learned to communicate with the Queens, something that previously on we had been able to do./_

>The Queens were loyal to you?>

The Pilot laughed. _/Oh, no, little one, they loathed us. But they were clever. They knew that if they disobeyed us, they would die sooner. Where there is life, there is hope… but now the Yautja and xenomorphs allied. The Queens, through the very adaptive abilities we gave them, evolved past their death-signal. When they attacked, we could not force them to die. Our job had been done too well, and one by one our worlds fell. Even in space, we could not win – the Yautja were technologically inferior, but they had numbers. Something we had never regained since the war with the Cythera./_

_/We began to fall. A little over one and half billion years ago, there were only five of us left. All the others had been wiped out. One died when the last eggs under our control infected him; he lay within his ship for millions of years on a barren world until it was disturbed by humans. One by one we died, until I and my companion fell prey to the Voidscream. And now I am the last, and soon, even I will die. So ends the race that once ruled the galaxy…/_

>Wait! What's the Voidscream?>

_/The source of all our miseries on this planet. It is what brings ships back into the real world and forces them to land here. All of it comes from the Voidscream of the Sentinel. More questions/_ it asked. _/The Sentinel is the greatest achievement of the Cythera, and like you, it came to destroy them. A monstrous computer system that infiltrates the entire planet, and uses viruses to take control of passing ships. It was once a means of capturing our ships during the great war, but with the passing of the Cythera, it grew. It became… insane. It now pulls ships into this planet, and prevents them from leaving, regardless of what they are. What purpose it has, I do not know, but I do know that what Cythera there are on this planet now serve the Sentinel, not vice-versa./_ Abruptly, a strange faint scream echoed across the link. _/It comes! I will not fall to our own creations! I… will… not/_ Shuddering as a horrific snapping sound emanated from within the its chest, and reached for one of the belt weapons.

There was a mechanised shriek – a flash of green light – and the Pilot began to dissolve. Ash fell in clouds to the floor, leaving the shining white skeleton of the creature, and the little chestburster's bleached exoskeleton just visible through the splintered ribcage.

Shadow stared at the remains of the last member of a race that had once ruled the galaxy. That had enslaved the Yautja. That had used the Aliens as a weapon.

The race that had created the Aliens.

Thanks a lot, he thought dryly.

* * *

_>I don't get it!>_ said Talon. _>Why can't we just go and see Spineback as it is? From what you've told me about Her, She wouldn't take too kindly to being kept in the dark about my change. Hang on, I was capitalising Her…>_

_>Instinct, that one,>_ replied Spiketail. _>If She's your Queen, the respect is automatic. It is physically impossible for an Alien to attack its own Queen. And as for keeping Her waiting, Spineback won't be too pleased to have another uppity ex-prey drone around the place. She's made it clear to both me and Shadow that She doesn't like us, and the moment we put a toe out of line we'll be turned into emergency rations. Bringing back a host will keep her sweet.>_

_>So what are we going after?>_

_>Lesson two, Talon. Keep an open mind about your prey, because you're often strong enough to take it whatever it is.>_

The drones moved through the canopy in silence for a while.

_>What's that?>_ asked Talon. _>That hissing.>_

There was something inside a small ravine. The problem was, there was a low tree canopy over it, so the only way the drones could see what the creature was was by ending up right on top of it.

_>Lesson two, eh?>_ said Talon in an unnaturally cheerful tone. _>Are we going in?>_

_>Shut up. And yes, we are. I've yet to meet a creature on this planet that I can't beat.>_

They stealthily dropped to the ground, and moved into the ravine.

Spiketail saw what the creature was, and groaned. _>Pyrocula. Whatever you do, don't stop moving. The only weak point in the armour is the mouth – you'll get some good tail practice.>_

_>Why can't I stop moving?>_ asked Talon, eyeing the monster.

The Pyrocula stood five metres at the shoulder. It had a short, horned head filled with sharp teeth, long arms with huge claws, strangely short back legs, and a tail that looked heavy, but twirled in the air constantly. Crocodilian armour covered its body.

The creature sensed their presence, and turned. With a curious scream, a blast of flame jetted from its jaws.

_>THAT'S WHY!>_

The drones split and moved along the ravine's walls, dodging the blasts of fiery liquid that accompanied the Pyro's rasping screams.

Talon reached the creature first, and leapt from the ravine wall onto the Pyro's back. In a move that would have been anatomically impossible for almost anything else, the Pyro bent one arm backwards, and swatted her off with a flick of the huge claws.

She recovered instantly, but with terrifying speed, the creature spun and screamed again. She tried to dodge the burning sludge, but was a little too slow.

She shrieked in pain as it slapped into one foot, and collapsed, clawing at the liquid to get it off.

The Pyrocula moved towards her, ready to give the deathblow with its claws. As it raised an arm, it opened its mouth in a roar of triumph.

In a dark blur, Spiketail leapt from one side of the gully to the other, flicking out her tail inside the behemoths jaws.

It shrieked, reared backwards… and slowly collapsed as the neurotoxins did their work.

_>Dangerous if you don't know how to deal with them, but they've got a remarkably low tolerance to our tail stings,>_ commented Spiketail. _>And stop whining, you sound like a lost puppy. You'll be limping for a few hours, that's all.>_

_>I've been through plenty of pain before; hell, I even got shot once. But that was beyond description!>_

_>Like I said, stop whining. It's better than it feels. You need to learn to shut your mind down to the pain; it gets enhanced by your senses so that you always know exactly what injuries you have. Now help me drag this lump back to the hive...>_

_

* * *

Many thanks to Dawley, who provided the idea for the Pyrocula, among many others (which you'll see some of in part three). And the Pyro is pretty tame compared to some…_


	9. Chapter 9

_For simplicity of communication, any speech in the Yautja language will from this point be in italics. Apart from the italicised telepathy… oh, you'll see what I mean when we get to it._

Spineback leaned forward from her resin hangings, and hissed softly. Talon squirmed uncomfortably under the Queen's gaze.

_¬On this planet I cannot complain about having a new member of the Hive,¬_ the Matriarch said finally. _¬Make sure that you know where your loyalties lie, though. Your ex-prey broodkin always try to spread that loyalty. Such friendship with our prey is useful sometimes, but a burden at others. I accept you into the Hive.¬ _

_>Thank you, Matriarch,>_ said Talon.

¬And your work bringing that host was well spent. You may not have subdued the creature yourself, but to take on such prey as that on this world takes skill. Stalk well.¬

Spiketail mentally beckoned Talon away, and the two exited the Hive in silence.

_>What was that last bit? 'Stalk well'? It seemed like a command.> _

_>It was,>_ replied Spiketail. _>It basically means that you can go and do what you wish until the Queen has need of you. You're _supposed_ to further the Hive, but so long as you don't deny your duties as a drone of the Hive, it doesn't really matter.> _

_>I probably ought to go and see Vathris, then. He's probably wondering what happened.> _

_>Wait.>_

Talon turned, sensing a slight change in her mentor's tone. _>What's the matter?>_

>You told me that when you changed, you planned to oust Spineback and take control of the Hive yourself. I presume that now you intend to learn at my side until you feel ready to do that?>

_>Yes. What of it?>_

_>The answer is no.>_

_>But…> _

_>No buts, Talon.>_ Spiketail's voice was icily calm, brooking no argument. _>I have lived within this hive for almost six months now. I agree that it will not be a pure-minded Alien that will bring the changes that will ensure that we can all live together. But it will be _me_, not you, who makes the Transformation and the challenge to Spineback. I've earned that, at least, in my time.>_

_>My taking over of the Hive was the whole point of using the retrovirus!> _

_>Oh yes? What happened to your obsession with all xenos? I can see you becoming a Queen one day, Talon,>_ continued Spiketail in a gentler tone._ >But until I either die or you set off to create your own hive, it will not happen. Make sure you explain that to Vathris.>_

_>If you're the one who will take over the Hive, why haven't you done it already?>_ said Talon, unconsciously entering a hostile posture.

Spiketail only retracted her lips, revealing the silvery teeth.

_>I'll tell Vathris,>_ said Talon coldly. _>But this isn't over.>_

_>Good. I'd hate to think that it was.>_

Talon turned and moved for the **_Asphodel_** without another word.

_>Spiketail! Over here, there's something you need to hear!>_

Spiketail spun in surprise to see Shadow on the edge of the clearing.

_>You've cheered up,>_ she said.

_>When you've had a major revelation that might explain life, you don't have time to be miserable,>_ replied Shadow. _>Come on, we need to find the Yautja. They might know something we don't.>_

"What are you two up to?"

They turned to see the Varbolt siblings strolling towards them from the **_Asphodel_**.

>Good to see you up and about, Tyrion,> said Shadow. >No permanent damage, I hope?>

Tyrion shook his head. "Those spitter-crocs have a nasty venom, but it only shuts you down. They like their food intact."

"I take it you're off to see those friends of yours?" said Elysa.

The two drones were silent for a moment, and then turned to look at each other dead on.

>What did you tell them?> they said simultaneously.

"I guessed," interrupted Elysa. "You never used to spend so much time in the forest – far too dangerous. So I guessed that you must be meeting something you couldn't bring here."

A siren abruptly sounded on the **_Asphodel_**. It was the signal for everyone to get aboard; incoming danger.

Tyrion made to go back to the ship, but Elysa pulled him back. "Don't be a wimp," she said scornfully. "We've got a couple of Aliens with us; what could possibly happen? Who are these friends of yours?"

>They're called Yautja. We tried to kill each other, then had to work together, and are now vaguely friendly with each other.>

"Mind if we tag along?"

Shadow considered this. >They'll be safe if we tell them not to attack you. Besides, we probably need someone from the **_Asphodel_** to hear this.>

"Just a moment," said Tyrion. "We need to stop at the bunker."

>'Bunker'?>

"A little stash of weapons for if we're ever caught outside the ship," said Elysa.

Shadow blinked as the siblings pulled out a pulse rifle and several cartridges each from inside a hollow tree. >Innovative hiding place,> he commented. >We must have passed that tree a dozen times and never guessed.>

"Right. Let's go to meet these 'Yautja'.

They walked in silence for a time, until they found the little clearing that the Yautja had moved to.

The moment she saw them, Elysa had snapped up the pulse rifle, and would have fired if Spiketail hadn't flicked a claw into the gap behind the trigger.

>That's not a very nice way to greet people,> the xenomorph chided. >I should know. What's the matter?>

"_Those_ are the matter! They're Predators! We had trouble with them a few years ago, they killed a dozen people before we drove them off!"

Spiketail looked questioning at Othar'a.

_"Probably true,"_ the Yautja said.

>We really don't have time for a game of 'they killed us, so we'll kill them',> said Shadow, who was rapidly losing patience. >Everyone, sit down. You all need to hear this.>

>So what's the big deal? Why do we _all_ need to hear this?>

Shadow quietly explained what the Jockey had said about the 'Sentinel'.

_"The __L'ulij-bpe Paya,"_ breathed Kal'Arak'e. _"We knew that there was some force that attracted ships here, and prevented them from leaving, but I don't think that even the highest Elders of the Tjau'ke Thwei knew this much."_

Tyrion and Elysa looked beseechingly at Shadow.

>He said that they knew of some sort of entity that causes the ships to disappear in the nebula, but nothing more. Look, I can see that constantly translating is going to become a real pain; I don't suppose you two have some sort of gadget that'll do the job?>

_"No. I can understand the ooman tongue from my link with you, but Kal'Arak'e is as in the dark as they are."_

>This matches up with what Talon said. She said the Vathris serves something called T-T which keeps the **_Asphodel_** safe, provides energy – it was what allowed those cannons to fire – and controls the local area. Obviously it's bigger than she thought. Wait – what are these '_Tjau'ke Thwei_'?> asked Spiketail.

_"The Clan that brought us here. They bring Youngbloods who wish to find challenge and skill to this world, and push them to their limits."_

It hit Shadow in a rush. >You can _leave_ this planet?>

_"Yes. Our ship is guarded from the L'ulij-bpe Paya's attacks, so we land unharmed. The Elders are very clear that we should respect it, though. Several hunting parties were attacked when they tried to Hunt certain things."_ Othar'a looked him, puzzled. _"We shared memories; I thought you knew."_

>It goes so fast… I must have missed _that _little detail. If you can leave…>

_"Not so fast. The Elders would never consent to oomans leaving with us, let alone kainde amedha."_

"So these Predators can leave whenever they want? Why don't they?" asked Elysa dubiously.

>Being on this world is a test of their skill and ability,> replied Spiketail. >So when we first saw you near the **_Asphodel_**, you didn't attack it because it was one of those 'certain things' that this T-T, or whatever it is, protects?>

_"I would assume so. The Elder only said to stay away from it."_

>The Queen of that hive said something about 'being left alone'…>

_"Most likely some sort of implant that produced compulsions in the mind,"_ said Kal'Arak'e.

>The attacks on the **_Charon_**,> said Shadow. >They followed some sort of pattern… first a strong, lone creature, then a swarm of weaker ones, then a few technologically advanced ones. We were being tested.>

"So… all the evidence points to the fact that the entire world is controlled by some sort of computer," said Tyrion slowly.

"Which tries to control everything directly or indirectly," completed Elysa. "**_Asphodel_** it controls through a deal of some sort, where Captain Eveth does what it wants and it protects us… the Yautja aren't controlled, but they don't attempt to destroy anything that it has… that hive was controlled through an implant or something in the Queen…"

>And now it's trying to control our hive through Talon. She said that Vathris wanted her to take over so that it could be 'brought under control'. That probably meant T-T. And since Talon's loyal to Vathris, T-T controls the hive.>

_"It can't be allowed to exist,"_ said Othar'a decisively. _"The many ships that it brings here might create a rich hunting ground, but we'd be no better than scavengers if we let it exist just for that."_

>How, precisely, do you intend to destroy a billion-year old supercomputer that has a race that once came close to ruling the galaxy as one of its servants?> asked Shadow sarcastically.

_"We're not alone. If we explain exactly what the L'ulij-bpe Paya is, I'm sure that the Elder would give support. We tiptoed around it because we did not understand what it was."_

>Well named, for one thing. 'Crazy god'… that pretty much sums up what the Jockey said.>

_"What else did this Tarutaska Amedha say? Did it just talk of these 'Cythera' and the L'ulij-bpe Paya?"_

>Nothing else useful,> said Shadow. He wasn't sure how the Yautja would react to hearing that they were once slaves, or even that they had once been allied with the xenomorphs. He hadn't even told Spiketail of the creation of Aliens.

"Spiketail, what did you say to Talon before she ran off?" said Tyrion slowly.

Spiketail would have blinked at the non sequitur if she had had eyelids. >That if anyone around here was going to take over the Hive, it would be me.>

"And she's going to tell Vathris that?"

>Yes…>

"So he'll tell T-T?"

>Probably. Where is this going?>

"How do you think T-T will react to hearing that what it would probably consider to be a rogue element taking over a hive right next to an important servant? What was the alternative to Talon taking over, from what she said?"

>Dest–> Spiketail stopped abruptly. >Oh no…>

_"The new Queen is problematic for you, isn't she? Wouldn't it be simpler to let it happen?"_ said Othar'a.

>NO! If anything is going to happen to the Hive, I'll be the one to do it! Come on, there's no _time!_> Spiketail moved like the wind towards the **_Asphodel_**, with Shadow in hot pursuit.

* * *

"I see that things didn't go quite to plan," said Vathris as the door closed behind Talon. 

>Yes. Spiketail stopped me from changing directly into a Queen. She's going to help me adapt to life as a xenomorph, and then… who knows?>

"Then you'll take over the Hive from this Spineback?"

Talon shook her head. >Spiketail was very clear on that. I suppose it was part of the deal, I just didn't realise it. She will take control of the Hive, and then some day I will set off to create a new hive.>

"You should have insisted."

>I tried! I even told her about T-T, and how this was the only way to prevent the Hive from being destroyed, but… I suppose she's right. She has seniority, she knows how a hive works…>

"But you could learn that."

>It would take a while. And anyway, she would still be first in line.>

"You could be… moved up in the queue."

Talon sensed the strange hesitation, and knew what he was suggesting immediately.

>You even think about harming her, or any part of the Hive, and you'll have to go through me,> she hissed.

"Holly, listen to me. You know as well as I do that Spiketail will not be friendly to us. She may not be actively aggressive, but the moment that it would be of benefit to her, she would kill everyone on the **_Asphodel_**! She can't be trusted with that kind of power! You're the only one who can make the hive into an asset for the **_Asphodel_** instead of a threat. And if it's a threat, T-T will demand that it be destroyed."

>I will not go against her wishes.>

"Don't you want to be a Queen?"

>Of course I do,> she snapped. >But if that means betraying my kin, then I'm happy to stay as a drone all my life.>

"Your _kin_?" Vathris gave her a hard look. "We're your kin, Holly. Humans, not xenomorphs. You're betraying _us_."

>I'm playing on the other side now, Vathris. Whether you like it or not, I am now part of the Hive.>

Vathris looked at her sadly. "If that's the way you feel, then I have no choice." A cruel smile slowly formed on his face. "I'm actually pleased that you decided this. Taking a hive off the planet would be such a pain in the neck."

>What did you say? Off the _planet_? That's not possible!>

"Watch me, little drone," Vathris replied. "I've been planning this ever since you and the rest of the **_Charon_**ites came along." He rotated his chair, and pressed several keys. The computer screen came to life.

**Update 3-7-Gamma sent.**

New letters flowed onto the screen, in a different type.

ASPHODEL COMMAND VATHRIS CONFIRM UPDATE 3-7-GAMMA

>That's T-T?>

"Oh, yes." Vathris' fingers blurred for a moment.

Update 3-7-Gamma confirmed. Initiative 7-Beta no longer feasible due to corruption of Charon 17 – Asphodel 89 – Holly Chance. No suitable replacements. Request energy transfer to matrix 7-Lambda. 

CONFIRM ENERGY REQUEST TO MATRIX 7-LAMBDA – WEAPONS ARRAY

>NO! YOU CAN'T KILL THEM!> screamed Talon.

"Like I said, watch me, Miss Chance."

**Energy request confirmed. Request permission to proceed with Command Asphodel 212-Gamma.**

>Vathris?>

"Yes, Miss Chance?"

>It's _TALON!>_

With a screech of fury, betrayal and hatred, she leapt at the captain of the **_Asphodel_**.

He flipped a small switch, and with a crackling buzz, and force field snapped into life. The enraged xenomorph bounced off the barrier. "I think that you just confirmed which side you're on, _Talon_. You can be sure that I'll have a use for you once we leave the planet – in the biology labs."

PERMISSION FOR COMMAND ASPHODEL 212-GAMMA GRANTED. ENERGY TRANSFER IN 30 SECONDS.

>How do you intend to leave the planet?> snarled Talon. >The ship's reactors are dead and the engines are shot!>

ENERGY TRANSFER IN 25 SECONDS.

"Wrong on both counts. You see, the engines are in perfect condition; I just hid the fact that they had been repaired after our crash. And as for the reactors…"

ENERGY TRANSFER IN 20 SECONDS

"I and some of my more gifted engineers have been working on a little scheme to reboot them. You see, the reactors _themselves_ have also been repaired, but they need a jolt of energy far larger than can be provided by our sole functioning reactor."

ENERGY TRANSFER IN 15 SECONDS

"T-T only provides enough energy to power the necessary systems; no overflow. But we worked out a way to trick it. It provides energy to all six of our CPSCs when we want to fire them – and they require a vast amount of energy, as you know."

ENERGY TRANSFER IN 10 SECONDS

"We've rerouted the power conduits on three of them to feed the power directly into the reactors. We could potentially have done it when we were attacked by that hive, but we weren't quite ready…"

ENERGY TRANSFER IN 5 SECONDS

"So here we are. When I fire the cannons, the hive will be obliterated, and the **_Asphodel_** will be brought back to full operational strength. Our engineers have guarded the computers against Tartarus' virus attacks. There is nothing to stop us. And with the danger alarm sounded, everyone will be aboard."

>Tartarus? That's the name T-T?>

ENERGY TRANSFER COMMENCING. MAXIMUM CHARGE IN TEN SECONDS

There was a faint hum that rattled through the warship as power began to accrue in the capacitors of the plasma cannons.

"Yes. I don't know what it's called in reality; just a joke on our part really. In the Greek myths, the darkest place of Hades is Tartarus, you know…"

_>Talon! Can you hear me?>_

_>Spiketail! Vathris is about to destroy the hive and leave the planet!>_

MAXIMUM CHARGE IN 5 SECONDS

_>Stop him!> _

_>I can't!>_

MAXIMUM CHARGE GENERATED

Vathris pressed several controls. With a slow groaning, the CPSCs rotated to focus on the little hive dome.

"Say goodbye to your 'kin', _Talon_."

He pressed the final control.

Air screamed as it was ignited by the three arcs of power that lanced into the hive. Through the porthole, Talon watched, sickened with her failure, as surrounding trees exploded into flame, and crumbled into ash almost instantly.

The blasts died away into nothingness.

And a faint whir filled the **_Asphodel_** as all three reactors powered up.

An awful empty feeling filled her as the faint, distant, comfortable buzz of the hive mind vanished.

ASPHODEL COMMAND VATHRIS CEASE REACTOR ACTIVATION

Vathris laughed, and flipped a switch. "Why should I, Tartarus?"

REACTOR ACTIVATION WILL RESULT IN UNACCEPTABLE INCREASE IN THREAT LEVEL OF ASPHODEL

"What are you going to do? Send your cronies in? In seconds, we'll be in space." He laughed, and pressed the intercom. "All hands, this is Captain Vathris Eveth. Please find somewhere comfortable – we're about to take off and leave this hellhole behind us. Make it so, engineering."

The ship hummed again, and with a series of jolts, the **_Asphodel_** slowly rose from the surface of Hades.

_>You're taking off!>_ said Spiketail desperately._ >Stop it, we're still out here! Not just me and Shadow, there are humans!> _

_>I can't. I'm trapped behind force fields. I'm sorry.>_

* * *

The **_Asphodel_** rose into the air, and with a guttural roar the main engines kicked in. The warship gathered speed, and began to rise towards space. 

Spiketail, Shadow, Tyrion and Elysa, and the Predator siblings could only watch as the ship rose away from them.

_>I'll be back! _We_'ll be back!> _called Talon. _>I'm not alone here on the **Asphodel** in wanting to escape with you. And once they realise they left some of their own behind… And if we don't return, give Tartarus hell from me! But we will, I promise!>_

And then a long spear of light reached out from the ground, and smashed into the diminishing silhouette of the **_Asphodel_**.

_>NO!>_ screamed Talon.

And then the ship that had contained all their hopes exploded.

Chunks of metal rained down over the clearing that had been its home, and trees ignited as the red-hot steel caught in their branches.

As the four that had called the **_Asphodel_** their home stared in horror, a miraculously intact metal plaque fell to the ground in front of them.

"That was on one end of the bridge," said Tyrion quietly. "'USC Asphodel, prototype weapon platform. We bring the food of the dead.' Ironic, really. A ship named after the Asphodel Fields lands on a planet called Hades, and is destroyed by a being named Tartarus."

_"I think that my point has been made,"_ said Othar'a sadly. _"This 'Tartarus' cannot be allowed to exist. That it would wipe out so many lives just because they tried to leave is a crime inconceivable to even the most dishonourable Yautja."_

Spiketail looked up at the slowly settling debris cloud of the **_Asphodel_**.

>I'm with you,> she said.

_There we have it. The ending of Asphodel, both the ship and the story. Hope you've enjoyed the ride… the third (and final) part of the Hades Chronicles will be out soon – look out for Tartarus. I look forward to seeing you then… _


End file.
